


Infinite Possibilities

by Kalloway



Series: Infinite Possibilities [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-25
Updated: 2013-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-03 14:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/699297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aerith took all the crazy homicidal darkness out of Sephiroth and hugged it to death. And then she didn't really know what to do with him, so she shoved him back to life and told him to do better this time. </p><p>Which, of course, means he gets to wake up wet, alone, naked, somewhere, with sand in places that he would prefer sand not to be.</p><p>Eventual Sephiroth/Cloud.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waking Up Is Hard To Do

There was darkness and light, a world of silence and a world of noise. Heat, cold... He felt a little like he was experiencing them all for the first time, though obviously that wasn't the case. He knew what they were, for starters. They were things, not abstract ideas. And he was...

Well, he was someone, somewhere, and he was going to do...

Something, somewhere.

He needed a moment, and took it, until he found himself a name and in a better frame of mind. However, in finding his name, he realized that anything would be a better frame of mind than where he'd been.

He could recall some of his friends waking up with strange and amusing tattoos or with women they'd never otherwise have paid a second glance. However, this wasn't really anything like that.

No, he'd woken up to realize that he'd nearly annihilated the planet. He'd... been a real mess. That's the best he could manage, at first. A real mess. It just seemed completely separate from himself. Like he was remembering a movie more than remembering his own actions. But no movie could be so terrifying--

He really thought he needed another moment, but he wasn't exactly going to get one. Unfortunately.

With a sigh, he knew what he had to do -- he had to open his eyes, get up, and... see about fixing things. Not that he really could. But he could do something, maybe, to slightly reduce the awfulness of his madness.

It ached to consider it 'madness', of course. That was just putting it over there and saying it wasn't really his fault. Because it was. Really... there had to have been something more he could have done.

He opened his eyes and found himself.... wet. And sort of cold. He sat up, expecting to shake the water from his hair and see where he was, but...

It was sunrise, or possibly sunset. Sephiroth had no idea where he was, so there was no way to know if the sun was rising or setting on him. Probably the latter, with his current luck. And his hair...

He reached up, looking for familiar long silver, but found only the barest scrubbly inch of fuzz. He hoped it had at least kept the color. This... had to be his body, at least. It took a couple of tries to focus properly, but the rest of him looked okay. Mostly. He had a couple new scars and from what he could tell, the carpet was still the right shade so with luck, the drapes would be.

Still, he was naked and alone. Somewhere, he could only guess that Zack and Zack's wife were laughing at him.

He laughed.

It felt kinda good. It was also tempting to do it again, but he rather thought it might border on someplace he didn't want to go. Besides, he was still naked and on the beach at sunset and... Laughing to himself might not be the best of ideas.

He had sand in places where he really didn't want to have sand, but he supposed it was par for the course. The waves were lapping at his feet, pushing sand and tiny stones around them, and a bit of seaweed that tickled.

Reaching, he grabbed a handful of sand and let it run between his fingers.

Aside from the where, he didn't actually know when he was, either. That might be more important.

It would also take a very long time to grow his hair back.

He flopped back onto the sand. The sun was definitely sinking lower. At least it would be a bit easier to be lost and naked in the dark. He could still see in the dark-- Hopefully.

Well, at least no one would see him. He'd sort out something with clothing somehow and...

Apparently his first act of restitution would be to steal some clothing. He sighed and got to his feet. Felt good to have his entire body in place, at least - minus his hair. But he supposed it was better than being dead again. Dead and crazy. Being dead hadn't really helped the crazy, either. Not at first. It had actually made it a little bit worse.

That wasn't really fair at all.

Wandering along the beach, watching as the sunset turned to twilight and stars began to appear in the sky, Sephiroth wondered just where he could even start to... start. He had no money, no identification, no clothing. No ID might be a blessing, but the other two were complicated. He had no shelter, though he could handle that easy enough. Someone would surely allow him to do some yard work or something for a few coins. And food. He'd nearly forgotten food. Not eating for... well, a long time... He'd nearly forgotten it was even a thing.

Not knowing when it was made figuring out the details of his last meal kind of confusing. He also couldn't remember what it was, aside from breakfast. He'd had a good breakfast of something-or-other.

And then gone off -- the deep end.

He was a bit chilled, hungry, and still naked when he found a cottage of some sort a few paces up the beach. It was dark and there were no vehicles around, so Sephiroth guessed that it wasn't the season for someone to be living there. Lucky for him.

Of course, it was also locked up even tighter than he'd anticipated. It was the middle of nowhere! Who was going to break into a place in the middle of nowhere? Well, he was, of course. Instead of rescuing kittens and feeding puppies and various other good things, he was going to start his second chance with breaking, entering, stealing, and squatting.

But he wouldn't need to spend much on conditioner.

For some reason, the situation with his hair was really irking him. And it was only when he got to the right angle for him to see his reflection in a window - the one he was going to shortly be breaking - did he find out what his new appearance truly was.

He seemed to be wholly the same, aside from his hair. Of course, it was his most distinguishable feature, so perhaps it had been removed for a reason. What he had was very much inch-long new growth that had a darkish hue to it.

He thought his eyes looked the same, though. And he felt the proper height and everything else, which was pleasant.

There was a rock garden out around the back of the cottage and before he could talk himself out of it, Sephiroth picked up a rock the size of a potato and heaved it at the glass of the back door.

In the silence of the night, the sound of glass breaking was infinitely loud and Sephiroth had to resist the urge to run off into the scrubbly patch of trees that sort of flanked the cottage. Law enforcement would be en route. There had to be an alarm. But... no. And while he thought he should wait just a little longer, after five minutes of staring at the door with the broken glass, Sephiroth picked up another rock, used it to knock out the jagged shards remaining in the frame of the square the first rock had gone through... and then reached in to unlock the door.

He paused, remembering that he was barefoot, and then once the door was open, half-heaved the doormat inside so he could step in.

Unsure if there would be electricity, Sephiroth flicked the switch with low expectations. But a dim light did flicker on, and then another, illuminating a small but open kitchen. Somehow a foot-square panel of glass had sprayed shards across the kitchen. Sephiroth winced, but there were sandals there. Men's sandals. Perfect. He slipped them on - they were a hair small but they'd keep his feet out of the glass. Surely there'd be a broom. He'd clean up and patch the door as best as possible. It was the least he could do, after all - he wasn't going to be a total disaster this time around.

Then, as he shuffled through the kitchen to see what other rooms the cottage even had, he realized something. He'd needed to turn the kitchen light on. Because he couldn't really see, otherwise.

No, it had been a force-of-habit moment. Really, he could...

He walked into a dark room and promptly tripped over a chair.

Sephiroth swore, which he was fairly sure was the first time he'd made a sound other than laughing. He then did that as he picked himself up. His voice sounded good, he thought. Didn't help that he couldn't see in the dark any longer, though. Maybe he... wasn't a super-soldier any more. Maybe he was... normal.

He wasn't sure he could handle being normal.

He found the light switch and was pleased to have found the cottage's lone bedroom. The chair hadn't been so much in front of the door as sort of in the space between the dresser and door. Sephiroth imagined the owner had left it there after packing a suitcase to go home for the season or something similar. He put it back against the wall and then looked around. There was a closet, door cracked, and a dresser. There was the chair, wooden and red with paint chipping off of it and showing that it had once been a sky blue. And there was a bed, which at least had blankets on it.

Opening the closet, Sephiroth was pleased. The owner of the cottage seemed to be of a similar enough size that he could make the few pieces of clothing that had been left behind into something wearable. He grabbed a grey t-shirt and pulled it over his head. It was big, suggesting someone of a larger girth, and was soft from repeated washing. A pair of shorts followed, needing the drawstring tightly cinched. But at least he wasn't naked any longer.

With a smile, Sephiroth set to exploring the rest of the cottage. It wasn't terribly exciting - there wasn't really anything particular about the place to suggest anything about its owner. There was a bit of fishing paraphernalia, however, which was good for multiple reasons. Mostly so that Sephiroth could feed himself. He was a little afraid to look in the fridge.

But before any of that, he had a kitchen to clean. Luckily, finding a broom wasn't terribly difficult, and the floor needed to be swept anyway, aside from the broken glass.

After dumping the glass into the garbage and wondering just where the garbage would eventually go, Sephiroth looked around again. There was a phone, which had no service, and a few phone numbers and names beside it, but they were all vague and meant nothing. The calendar beside it, however, was disconcerting. It was dated for three years before he'd been born. Either... he'd somehow gone back in time or...

No... some of the things he'd seen in other rooms were newer. It was just an old calendar. It had to be. There also had to be a town of some sort nearby. There were continents not as populated as others, Sephiroth knew, and while he had no idea where he was, he also thought he'd have to be close to somewhere.

Just because it would be really anticlimactic to be dead again right away, and from something stupid like an infected wound from broken glass or starvation or falling over a chair or anything, well, not Cloud.

Cloud.

Sephiroth paused. He wanted to tear down the old calendar and then do some other cleaning and make the place into a proper home, but... well, that was easier said than done. It wasn't his space, to begin with, and he also had nothing to really start with. Most of the shelves in every cabinet were empty.

And the canned goods that remained had expiration dates which didn't tell him anything except that he really no idea when he was.

He risked a can of chili that seemed okay, sitting alone at a kitchen table of unknown color. Or perhaps all the colors. Stains, paint, burns...

He considered going back to the living room to see if he could tune in anything on the tiny radio he'd seen.

But instead, he found himself feeling exceptionally groggy and wandered off to see if the bed was as comfortable as it looked.

The problem with waking up in a strange place is, of course, that it involves waking up in a strange place. Somehow, waking up naked in the sand had been far less confusing than waking up under a multi-colored quilt in a strange bedroom.

For the first few seconds, Sephiroth blinked and wondered who he'd gone home with. And then he was a little embarrassed that his first thought had been that one. But it had been, and he couldn't take it back. At least that wasn't the case. No, he'd broken into a cottage, made a mess, stolen some clothing, and then cleaned the mess up. Of course, technically he hadn't taken the clothing anywhere, he'd just put it on his body. So maybe it wasn't wholly stolen yet.

The sun had long since risen, Sephiroth noted as he got to his feet and glanced outside. He still wasn't sure where or when he was, but he knew he which side of a continent he was on, at least. It was a start.

There was, unfortunately, no coffee on reserve anywhere in the cottage. But the well seemed to work and there was soap, so before he did anything else, he stumbled through the shower and washed, finally rinsing away the sand that had indeed stayed everywhere he hadn't wanted it to stay. It hadn't been such a concern overnight, but now that it looked like he was indeed going to stay alive...

Unless Cloud found him.

As much as he wanted to see Cloud and say things, he also really didn't want to see Cloud because he wasn't sure Cloud would listen to him at all. He wasn't sure he'd listen to himself.

Clean, relatively dried off and dressed in a different-but-still-ill-fitting outfit, Sephiroth headed outside to survey what he hadn't been able to see in the dark.

The cottage wasn't far from the water - though it wasn't quite on the shore. The roof looked good, and also looked to be fitted with some sort of solar panel set-up which would explain the power. However... there were lines running to the house and Sephiroth could only guess they were for the disconnected phone. But they had to run somewhere, he thought, and there was an overgrown road that ran along with the lines. That would be his first clue as to where a town might be. It would also give him an idea of how long it had been since anyone had been out to the cottage.

He didn't lock up.

The road was wide enough for a single truck and while there were a few thicker bits of vegetation sprouting up, there wasn't anything too awful. If anything, it had only been a couple of years since the cottage was last visited. At least by anything requiring the whole of the road.

It took the better part of an hour, but Sephiroth kept following the road and the phone line until a small village came into view. It was, he realized, also along the shore but a different part. Apparently the geography didn't allow for a straight route. It didn't bother him any - he just wished he could think of where he might be.

Hopefully he could also figure out the when without too much embarrassment.

There were only about as many houses as he had fingers, Sephiroth noted. And a General Store. Not the best sign. It would be hard to stay anonymous if...

"Hey there!" an older man called. "You come in from ol' Willie's place?"

Sephiroth froze for a moment and then nodded. Hopefully it was the correct response.

"Eh, I'm glad someone's gettin' some use out of it," the man continued. "You a relative?"

"Friend of the family," Sephiroth said quickly.

"Didn't know he had any of those," the man said with a chuckle. "You must've just gotten out here. A little early for the season, but that shouldn't stop you. Didn't stop me and then look, I just stayed..."

"Ah..."

"Name's Darius," the man kept right on going, but he held out his hand for Sephiroth to shake.

"Fin," Sephiroth replied without really thinking. There were only a finite amount of correct answers. Or answers at all. He could get away with this...

"Nice to meet you, Fin." Darius had a good, firm handshake that matched his leathery, sea-worn appearance. Suddenly, Sephiroth wondered if Darius wasn't really anywhere near as old as he looked.

"It's nice to meet you, too. And nice to be here," Sephiroth replied. Mostly the latter. In a strangely literal sense. He was happy to be there. Being alive was... pretty darned nice, even if it was also complicated at the moment. "However..."

He figured he'd just lay it all out. Well, a nicely sanitized version of things.

"There was an accident with my luggage," Sephiroth explained. Like never having it. "So I pretty much have nothing except for what's in the cabin. If you can recommend somewhere to earn a good meal..."

Darius laughed.

"Sounds like you got Ol' Willie's luck," he said with a headshake. "Man was always breaking or losing things. Always surprised he got here and home without catastrophe, especially on that motorcycle of his. Should still be there -- probably out of fuel, though."

Motorcycle. That would solve a lot of problems.

"When he died, what, two years back, we got word to keep an eye on the place and that the family would be out to check it out, but... No one ever showed up, far as I know," Darius said. "But you know all of that, I'm sure. Don't suppose you're doing the checking?"

"Not entirely. I just need a little time and space to... get my head together, I guess," Sephiroth replied. That was an understatement if ever he'd made one, but it was close enough.

"Well, if you're needing food and money, go see if there are any jobs up in the General Store," Darius suggested, pointing across to where the town's only two-story building proudly proclaimed just what it was.

"Thank you," Sephiroth said, giving Darius a little nod before ambling over to the General Store. He wasn't sure quite what he was expecting, but certainly not quite what he saw. Honestly, the place was from another time entirely. If he hadn't seen a fairly new radio in the cottage, -- Ol' Willie's cottage -- Sephiroth would have been sure he'd been thrown back in time.

"Hi-- Oh!"

There was a younger woman behind the counter, one who was obviously surprised to see someone unfamiliar.

"Hello," Sephiroth said, trying to smile and be as friendly as possible. "I'm... looking for some work."

"Oh?" the woman questioned. She frowned, but it seemed to be more in thought than anything else.

Sephiroth nodded. "My name is Fin - I'm staying in Ol' Willie's cottage down the shore," he explained. "And unfortunately my luggage was misplaced while traveling. I was hoping it'd catch up to me, but so far no luck."

"Now you're far enough out in the middle of nowhere that it never will," the woman added. "Well, once the summer folk start coming around, there are more deliveries, but unless you were really specific on your tags, it's still a lost cause.

Chuckling, Sephiroth shook his head. "It's okay. I'm out here to sort of start over anyway, so I might as well really start over."

"You could have picked somewhere a little more exciting," the woman told him. "But... I can help you now that you're here."

"Thank you," Sephiroth said, "Miss... ah...."

"Ms.," the woman corrected. "'Tori' is fine." She paused. "Is there anything you're good at, Fin?"

"A little bit of everything," Sephiroth admitted. "I... was in the military..."

"Feh..." Tori shook her head. "So was my husband. Fucking terrorists. Once they gave me his medals and tiny payoff, I came back here and took over the store from my parents."

"I'm sorry..."

Tori blinked a couple of times and then looked straight at him. "Wasn't your fault. Damned terrorists and everything else."

"Well..."

"I should find you a job." Tori stepped out from behind the counter and crossed the room. There, where Sephiroth hadn't noticed it, was a corkboard with cards stuck on it.

"You know," she said, reaching for one of them, "you're about the youngest person in town other than my daughter. You'll probably get every single job on here if you want them."

She handed him the card she'd pulled and he took it, studying it carefully.

'Please come fix my gutter. You can use my tools and ladder. Lexei.'

"Alexei's arthritis has gotten bad this last year," Tori explained. "He lives in the last house off in the other direction - blue, sagging gutter. I think it just needs a cleaning and a nail popped back in. I'd do it, but... no ladders."

She winced, and Sephiroth nodded. Heights didn't bother him and he figured it wouldn't be bad work. Probably wouldn't pay more than a meal, but it'd be a start. Wouldn't take too long, either.

"I'll go do it," Sephiroth said quickly, moving to leave.

"Come back when you're done and I'll go through the rest to see what else will be quick." Tori was smiling and reaching for another handful of cards.

It was a start, Sephiroth thought as he clutched the card and headed back out into the sunshine. He was going to fix a gutter. As a normal human, not as a super-soldier, not as a god... It was quite possibly going to suck.

Alexei's house was very much at the end of the street and blue. And the gutter was definitely coming down, though part of the problem was that a branch was hanging against it. Fixable, Sephiroth thought, as long as Alexei had tools.

Luckily, Alexei was out on his porch, a bottle of beer in one hand and a book in the other. Three white cats, all of which seemed to have odd-colored eyes, were perched around him. As Sephiroth got closer, he realized the man was reading to the cats.

"Hello," he called, waving. He was fairly sure he looked ridiculous in his too-small sandals and too-large clothing, but he couldn't do any better.

Alexei looked up, surprised.

"Who're you?" he asked as Sephiroth stepped up onto the porch. One of the cats instantly abandoned Alexei and slinked over to twist around Sephiroth's feet.

"Fin," Sephiroth said quickly. He held out the card. "I'm new to town and need to find work, so Tori sent me over to give you a hand."

"Tori sent you?" Alexei smiled and set down both bottle and book. "Well that was sweet of her. Good girl. Sad what happened, but what can you do? Things are better now, but she's out of place here."

Alexei looked him over once and Sephiroth was instantly afraid of what would come out of the old man's mouth next.

"She's already broken in, but if that ain't a problem, you could marry her and make her happy," Alexei continued, pushing aside the remaining two white cats to stand. "I'd do it, seeing as my wife passed on last year, but she promised if I ever remarried, she'd haunt us both."

Sephiroth was fairly sure that Alexei had the better part of fifty years on Tori, but he kept his thoughts to himself. Well, other than the important one.

"I'm not quite up to marrying anyone just yet," he said with a tiny headshake. "Right now, I'm just here to see about a gutter."

"And that branch," Alexei said. "Maybe you can check the shingles too. It'll get rainy right before the Summer Folk come, so I want to make sure there aren't any leaks."

"Of course," Sephiroth replied. "Your card says you have tools for me to use?"

"Garage is yours to borrow," Alexei said. "Knees are pretty much shot these days, and my son ain't ever gonna come home to take the house. So you can just use what you need, even after today. If you're gonna be working off Tori's board, you'll need 'em."

Sephiroth was momentarily stunned. He wasn't sure if this was small-town kindness or general insanity. But it would certainly make things quite a bit easier.

"Thank you, Sir," he said.

"Alexei," Alexei corrected. "No 'Sir'. I'm not that old..."

"Of course not," Sephiroth noted. "Now, let me see about a ladder and some tools..."


	2. New clothes, new ride, new... problems.

By the time the sun was low in the sky, Sephiroth had fixed Alexei's roof, gutter, trimmed up a tree, fixed a plant stand, and several other tasks. Alexei had made sandwiches for them both for lunch, and had then offered Sephiroth whatever he wanted of the things that used to belong to his wife.

Sephiroth had stared, stunned, for a second before Alexei explained that maybe he could at least sell them for a bit of extra money. Alexei wasn't up to going through everything, but maybe Sephiroth could, since he wasn't so attached.

Walking back to the General Store with a few bills, a cooler full of food and a few pieces of decent looking jewelry, Sephiroth wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel. Alexei's family had pretty much abandoned him to live off his days in the quiet town. His wife was gone. And while he and the cats seemed to be hanging on, it seemed depressingly lonely.

Tori looked up from what seemed to be pages of invoices when Sephiroth ambled in.

"I was starting to think you took off--"

Shaking his head, Sephiroth made his way to the counter. "No," he said. "Alexei just found more things for me to help him with."

"Probably talked your ear off, too," Tori noted before smiling. "He's a good guy. But just like Ol' Willie, I don't know what'll happen to his place once he's gone."

Nodding, Sephiroth spread out the money he'd earned. It wasn't really much, but he needed to get started on the basics.

"I don't suppose I could at least put this towards a pair of shoes that fit a little better than my sandals," he said, wincing. He'd done most of the repair-work barefoot and he was feeling it.

Tori sighed and pointed off to a corner. "Should be some work boots over there in your size. About three times more than what you've got here, but I'll let you run a tab for them if you promise to come back tomorrow and take a few more cards."

"I can do that," Sephiroth said quickly, before kicking off the sandals and heading over to find the boots. There were, in fact, a pair his size and in black. He grabbed a pair of socks, too, and presented them to Tori a moment later.

"Just a second," she said, shuffling pages. "Don't suppose you have any experience with bookkeeping?"

"A little," Sephiroth admitted. He'd mostly been a man of action, but that hadn't kept him from learning many other things and occasionally getting desk duty. "What do you have there?"

"About a year's worth of orders and invoices," Tori told him, pushing them across the counter. "I don't think it was me, but there are running errors from before and... I just can't quite figure out where to begin fixing these."

Sephiroth nearly swore when he saw the invoices. They had dates on them. He now knew when he was. And he was five years past where he thought he might be. Five years... He sucked in his breath and pretended to be thinking about the invoices.

And also pretended not to see the dates.

"Which one is the most recent?" he asked as innocently as he could.

"That one," Tori said, nodding. "Came yesterday. Date is up here." She reached and pointed, confirming what Sephiroth had already feared.

Luckily, the invoices did make sense to him.

"I think you subtracted at one point when you needed to add," he said. "On this one, at least, against the ledger. I'd need everything to really clean it up, though. And maybe a day to sit down somewhere quiet and write everything down."

"Could I put a card up?" Tori questioned, eyes sparkling. "I'm not kidding. Just having everything balanced would be a big help. I mean, I've done a lot and it was worse before, but I've never had any training on this sort of thing. Especially not when I was a kid - I never expected to take over the place, after all. I wanted... Well, I wanted to be a nurse. But I became a mother, instead, and a widow..."

"Mothers are important," Sephiroth told her softly. He didn't meet her gaze for a long moment, but smartly, she didn't inquire.

"It's getting dark," Tori noted after a few seconds of silence in which Sephiroth shuffled the invoices back. "You should get going if you want to get back to Ol' Willie's cabin before it's pitch black."

"Thank you for the boots. And everything," Sephiroth replied. He knelt, pulling on socks and boots as quickly as he could. "If I can, I'll give you my sizes tomorrow so I can get some other clothing that fits properly."

Tori laughed. "I can do that. I'll have to order it, but deliveries usually only take a couple of days. And whenever you can work on the books, I definitely will pay you."

"Have a good night." He grabbed his cooler and let himself out. The evening air was growing brisk - the wind was off the ocean and Sephiroth could feel water hanging heavy in it. He suddenly wasn't as worried about the dark as the rain.

However, the rain held until a few minutes after he'd gotten in and started to eat the meal that Alexei had packed for him. Not really a dinner so much as a bunch of leftovers, but Sephiroth was in no position to be picky. The patch was holding over the hole in the door, the cottage didn't seem to leak, and he had food. Everything was good. Hopefully everything was good. He couldn't expect to be doing amazing things right away.

Especially not when... He didn't even think about it til he'd navigated around the bedroom once looking for something a little heavier than his shorts and t-shirt. He hadn't turned on the light. He could see again, in the dark, like he'd always been able to before. But that meant...

Rushing for the bathroom, he stared at himself long and hard.

There was just the faintest familiar glint of what had been 'affectionately' termed the 'Mako Glow'.

It was almost disappointing to see -- he'd almost thought his body had been cleansed. Maybe it had been cleansed of some things. Maybe... maybe his time was limited.

He'd have to keep watch and see. No sense worrying about it just yet.

After changing into a pair of sweatpants, cinched tightly, and a hooded sweatshirt, Sephiroth settled in the living room to read. While Ol' Willie didn't have a large library, there were enough books to keep Sephiroth occupied for awhile. It was a nice way to wind down and not dwell too much on the day.

There were even a few he recognized, which was almost surprising. Classics, he supposed. He couldn't believe that five years had passed. His body certainly hadn't aged at all.

Cloud would have nearly caught up to him.

Once thoughts of Cloud took over from the thoughts on the book he'd been half-reading, he gave up and set it aside without even bothering to mark his place.

"Cloud..."

Part of him wanted to go find Cloud and... He didn't know. The second half of that was startlingly blank. There was no way to ever ask or beg forgiveness. There was nothing.

Part of him didn't want to ever see Cloud. It would be freedom, he supposed, from everything that had happened before. Just knowing Cloud was out there would be enough, really. He'd just complicate Cloud's life when Cloud probably didn't need any more complications.

Sephiroth kept thinking about it til long after he should have and finally, barely able to keep his eyes open, he ambled off to sleep.

The rain wasn't terribly hard, but it hadn't stopped, either. Instead there was just a soft patter against the window that stopped being annoying fairly quickly and became almost comforting. Everything from the day would be washed away.

Only when he was just seconds from sleep did he remember about the motorcycle and he tried to remind himself to look at it in the morning. He also decided that as much as he wanted clothing, other bathroom necessities were more important and he needed to ask about those.

He didn't think he'd remember any of his thoughts in the morning, but they were still important and he was still going to have them. Until he wasn't...

Sephiroth slept, dreamless, until long after the rain stopped and until long after the sun had risen on a new day.

~*~

After showering and eating the last bits of food from the day before, Sephiroth hunted around til he found a key for the shed that sat off to the side of the house. Sure enough, there was a motorcycle inside and despite Darius's predictions, it was not out of fuel. However, it took the better part of an hour to get running, and also left Sephiroth covered in grease and grime and badly in need of another shower.

It was lunch time by the time he crawled in the General Store, a little frustrated and definitely a little rattled. The road really wasn't in motorcycle-shape any longer and would need a bit of work some evening to be properly passable.

"I'm not even sure if I should be saying 'Good Morning' to you," Tori commented when Sephiroth ambled into the General Store. She had her short hair back under a headband and looked like she'd been working hard on something or other. Hopefully not the invoices. It was safer to let those wait.

"It took a little longer than anticipated to get the motorcycle here," Sephiroth explained. "But it's running."

Tori smiled. "Wonderful. Maybe you can help with a few deliveries, then. The ones around town I do with Sindi, my daughter, but today there's one for Marsia, who lives out towards the plains."

"I might need slightly better directions than that, but I think I can handle a delivery," Sephiroth said with a small nod.

"Thanks, Fin. Let me draw you a map and send you off-- Wait, have you eaten? Let me at least make you something to eat..." She gave him a little awkward smile and then raced off towards the back room of the store.

Without distraction, Sephiroth wandered a bit around the shop. While it was far from large, the sheer amount of different items crammed into it was impressive. And where there seemed to be a lack of some category, there was a catalog tucked with instructions on how to order. Aside from a dusty boxed blender, the entire appliance section seemed to be mail-order only. He really thought he wanted a coffee maker.

But it was only a little disappointing, since he knew he'd have to get coffee as well. And coffee was important, but not nearly as important as clothing, toiletries, and basic food. Coffee was just a happy bonus.

He'd wandered over to the job board by the time Tori returned.

"Sorry," she apologized. "Sindi wanted something too. She's been working on making dolls out of yarn and I thought that was keeping her busy."

"I was just looking around," Sephiroth assured her. "After I've taken care of the basics, I'm going to need a coffee maker."

He accepted a plate with a fairly basic sandwich and half an apple, carefully sliced into almost perfectly equal slices.

"You definitely need some clothing that fits," Tori agreed. "What else?"

"Basic toiletries," Sephiroth replied. "I'm glad my hair isn't longer. I'm okay washing it with the bar soap that was left behind, but..."

"I'll start on a list," Tori interrupted. "You'll have to tell me your sizes before you leave and I'll see what I can do. I need to drop things to Alexei and Darius, too. But I'll be back before you will."

"You sure you're willing to give me a chance?"

"Fin." Tori looked at him and smiled. "I really don't think you're going to take a mail-order wardrobe and run. You seem like a good guy and I like to trust my gut, y'know?"

While he ate, Tori drew Sephiroth a map out of town and to a small farm.

"Marsia lives there with a couple of stable hands," Tori explained. "Used to raise and race chocobos, but that was a long time ago. Now she's retired... and takes in older birds that’d otherwise be euthanized. Lives off some pretty big winnings from back in the day."

Sephiroth blinked. He had no idea that people did things like that. Of course, he also wasn't entirely fond of chocobos, either. But a chocobo farm wouldn't be a bad thing to visit. It wasn't like anyone would expect him to stay.

Together, they loaded the motorcycle's small cargo bins with Marsia's supplies and with a smile, Tori saw him off.

The bike rode much better through town, and across a wooden bridge that separated the border of the town from a small wood and then plains. He saw a couple of houses as he went, seemingly abandoned.

About a half-hour out, he saw the first chocobos. They were all different colors, and chased along with his motorcycle until he turned into the driveway of the farm proper. Apparently they'd caught him, so there was nothing else for them to be interested in. Or perhaps they'd lost...

Before he got to the farmhouse, he cut power and walked the motorcycle in. He at least knew how to be polite with a large noisy machine.

"Heya!"

Instead of the elderly woman that Sephiroth was expecting, a pair of younger men ran up to Sephiroth.

"Who're ya?"

"Fin," Sephiroth said quickly. "Tori from the General Store sent me out."

"Supplies?" one questioned. "We normally go in for the big stuff, but Miss Marsia had ordered some special stuff..."

Sephiroth nodded and gestured to the bike. "I've got it in the side bins."

There was something odd about the men, Sephiroth noted. Something in their movements. Their speech wasn't quite there, but the movements were military. And yes, they did seem to have the faintest of glows to their eyes.

They helped themselves to the cargo and for a moment, Sephiroth wasn't sure if he needed to collect payment or if Marsia had already paid. Tori hadn't mentioned anything, though from what he knew of Tori, she'd likely give things away on credit if it meant making someone happy. Or it could just be him.

He almost hoped it wasn't. Some interests, he just didn't have.

"Let me see if Miss Marsia has an envelope for ya," the first one said as he handed the package he'd been holding to the other. "Just stay here and I'll be right back."

He didn't ask the other man about the military. They seemed strangely content on the farm, tanned and smiling. No need to bring up the past. Certainly if he mentioned it, they might start giving him a second look that he didn't need. Even though he'd been... He'd been missing for over a decade, if he was doing the math right. Aerith had told him a few things.

And he hadn't aged at all.

Which meant he and Cloud were now...

He wished he knew why he had to keep anchoring himself on Cloud. But...

"Here ya go, Fin." The first man had reappeared and was offering him an envelope.

"Thanks," Sephiroth said quickly. He tucked it into one of the cargo bins, strapped it shut and then bid them both farewell.

The chocobos raced him right back out til the end of their fence. Aerith had mentioned that Cloud had learned to race the birds...

He was back in town before he could work through all of his thoughts, which was a bit of a surprise. But true to her word, Tori had catalogs out and the other bagged deliveries had vanished.

"Here you go," Sephiroth said, handing her the envelope.

"And here you go," Tori replied, offering him a piece of paper. "You're now almost done paying for the boots. So I'm sure you'll take care of that today, along with a few other things. Toiletries I actually have, too. Let's do those first."

Sephiroth made a quick list - toothbrush, toothpaste, a decent brush, shampoo, deodorant, and a pair of nail clippers. He added a bar of soap as an afterthought, but he really didn't want to keep using the one that had been there - or at least he wanted to be able to replace it if he didn't stay.

Though really, he thought he was going to stay.

"I can do that," Tori replied when he slid the list over to her. "Now... here's what I have lined up for you for the rest of the day..."

~*~

By evening, he'd been fed cookies, three sandwiches, and given a cup of almost-decent coffee. People thought he needed to eat more, get more sun, and possibly adopt a kitten. He'd managed not to take home a kitten, however. He'd borrowed Alexei's tools, sold a few of Alexei's wife's shirts to a middle-aged woman on the other side of town, and spent a good hour or so listening to Alexei talk about his cats in between everything.

Sephiroth was exhausted. He had a bag of toiletries tucked into the motorcycle's right cargo compartment. The left was full of food. Apparently his story had made the rounds and everyone was setting things aside for him. It was... too much, definitely. Especially since it was mostly a fabrication. Yes, he had nothing, but it was for a completely different reason. It was his own doing, if nothing else.

He could only repay the town with kindness and hard work.

The middle-aged lady, Carolla, had given him a couple of books when she'd spotted him looking at her shelves after he'd fixed a loose step, helped her move a bit of furniture and then opened a few jars she'd been having trouble with. They were not high literature and one looked to be a bodice-ripper romance, but they were reading material and certainly a bit less dry than most of what Ol' Willie seemed to have collected. Not that various histories and books on fishing were really that awful. Sephiroth was sure he'd read them all. Fishing wouldn't be a terrible hobby, after all. Not once he started having days off. If such things were allowed. He wasn't terribly sure just what he should risk...

After brushing his teeth, which felt almost hilariously foreign after so many years, he settled into bed with the bodice ripper and started to read. The plot was wholly predictable, but the main characters were at least vaguely interesting. Sephiroth was a little disappointed when his eyes started to droop midway. But he'd have another chance. It was late, and he'd already overslept far more years than he'd wanted to. He could at least try to get up at a reasonable hour.

~*~

Days passed into weeks before Sephiroth noticed. He'd cleared the job board once and had most of the things he needed to have a decent little existence in the cottage. He had started to take every fourth day off to relax and fish and walk along the shore.

By chance he'd learned that he was less than a day's ride from Mideel, which wasn't exactly a thriving metropolis, but it was a town he at least knew existed, as compared to his current surroundings.

The days were growing longer, and slowly the cottages branching off from the other side of town were filling with motley waves of summer residents. The job board filled much faster, and Sephiroth was making a good business of small repairs. Alexei had pretty much let Sephiroth convert his garage into a workshop that just happened to also sell a bit of used clothing and other miscellanea. Someone always had something, and he tried to be there at least one day a week.

While it probably wasn't what Aerith had in mind for him, it was a good life. A bit lonely, at times, when he retired to Ol' Willie's cottage in the evening, but he was also fairly sure if he was in town, he wouldn't get to enjoy a bit of peace or quiet.

He'd covertly fixed the glass he'd broken out of the door, and had finally given away most of Ol' Willie's clothing. If an heir did ever appear, Sephiroth was fairly sure old clothing would be of no interest. There wasn't really anything of value in the house at all - the motorcycle was the best thing he'd found so far and even that wasn't terribly exciting.

The sun wasn't terribly high in the sky on a morning in late summer. Sephiroth had decided to walk into town instead of ride, simply because it was a nice morning but felt ever-so-slightly like it was going to rain and he'd honestly rather walk home in the rain than ride a wet motorcycle.

His first stop would be Tori's place. He knew she'd be up, and he knew she'd want him to look over her books. Despite fixing them and sorting out errors from as far back as a decade ago, Sephiroth apparently couldn't get away from looking over everything Tori had added. Just in case.

It didn't matter much. She'd give him lunch later, and if it was a slow day for everything, he'd tell a story or two to Sindi in the afternoon.

However, Darius found him first.

"There's a Sea Worm up on the beach!" he cried, panting a little as he shuffle-ran over to Sephiroth. "Big one, too. Can you give a hand with it, Fin?"

Sephiroth nodded. He didn't know much about Sea Worms, other than that they were nasty and having one anywhere near town was not a good thing. However, he also wasn't armed and had purposely not armed himself, despite offers of various weapons from various folks. Apparently he looked like the kind of guy who should carry a gun.

Maybe it was the hair. Four months hadn't given it much length, and he'd actually had Tori trim out the oldest bits that were damaged.

"Got anything for me to hit it with?" Sephiroth questioned as he followed Darius down to the shore. However, it didn't take long before he saw the Sea Worm. It was bigger than he'd expected, and far closer to some of the homes than he would have liked.

"Here," Darius said, offering an antique pistol. "Should have a couple of bullets left."

Sephiroth shook his head. "That won't do much aside from make it angry. How about a blade and materia?"

Darius seemed stunned for a second before glancing around at the other folks who'd come to at least stare at the beast.

"You want to kill it?" Darius questioned. "We normally just drive 'em back into the water."

"Do you have any idea how big that one might be when it comes back?" Sephiroth asked. He looked around. Someone had to have something he could use. Finally, he saw one of the older widow's clutching what looked like a mid-length blade of decent composition. A lone green materia glittered in its hilt and Sephiroth couldn't really be bothered to care what sort it was. It'd do the trick. He could do it.

He hoped.

While his night vision had returned, along with the soft glow of mako in his eyes, it never got to a point where it concerned him. He was stronger, but he also thought his body had been exceptionally weak at first. Hopefully he still had some skill with magic or he was going to get hurt.

But it was worth a try. It was definitely worth a try.

Sephiroth trotted over to the woman, who was holding the sword like she couldn't decide if she wanted to rush in or if she had just realized it would be incredibly dumb to rush in.

"May I?" Sephiroth asked her, reaching for the sword. It was much smaller than he was used to, if he was even still used to such things. He was wearing work boots, and jeans, and a t-shirt that proclaimed he was still rocking in Midgar, despite the fact that the last thing he wanted to do was anything in Midgar. But Tori had given it to him and it had the least amount of holes in it so far.

"Here..." The sword was handed off to him without much of a second glance, which was fine because Sephiroth had his gaze on the Sea Worm. It wasn't doing anything too terribly destructive, at the moment, but that was because no one was anywhere near it. He knew better and he hoped that everyone else did too.

One of the summer folk did not.

A single bullet was fired and struck right into the beast's head, angering and causing it to wriggle and flip and generally try to twist about and find its attacker. Two small boats and part of the dock was wiped out before Sephiroth could even choose an angle to attack from.

He'd battled far worse. He could do this.

Feeling out the materia, it was a Lightning, which was perfect. He sucked in his breath and cast. The beast contracted and flipped again, this time doing no damage but getting much more agitated yet unable to really do anything.

Sephiroth felt a bit like he'd been socked in the stomach. He thought he was stronger. He'd need to be.

He did it again, this time paralyzing the Sea Worm and once he realized it wouldn't be moving, he ran forward and stabbed at its head, cutting quickly and deeply, ignoring the blood spraying over him until the creature stopped moving completely. Then he simply stepped back... staggered back... and fell back onto his ass in the sand.

"Fin!"

"Fin! Are you okay?"

Darius and Tori were both beside him in an instant, but he waved them away before flopping back on the sand. He was fine. Tired, but fine. He'd done something good, after all. But he was sorely out of practice. Magic shouldn't have taken anything out of him. Not like that, at least. He still had a hand around the sword, but didn't protest when Darius reached to take it from him.

"That was amazing," Tori said, reaching to poke at his shirt. "You really made a mess, though."

"Sorry," Sephiroth replied. "Never fought one of those before. Didn't realize it'd be so messy."

"What have you fought?" Tori questioned, frowning. "You're too young to..."

She trailed off and Sephiroth didn't say anything. Not when the rest of the town was making its way down the beach to look at the monster, and him, and the damage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and comments. ^_^ I'll try to have new chapters up every ~Tuesday til the entire story is posted.


	3. A Cloud appears when it is already going to rain

"You know, you did say you were in the military but you never elaborated on exactly what you did," Tori told him later, after she'd found him clean clothing and taken his dirty clothes to wash. "I figure you were trying to spare my feelings, but..."

"It wasn't for very long," Sephiroth replied. "I did a lot of... mmm... independent stuff after. I guess... that's what put me in such a bad place. When I got the chance to come here and slow down..."

Tori nodded.

"Well, you're the town hero now," she said. "If I didn't have that 'Closed' sign up, you'd be pestered for the rest of the day. Not that you weren't pretty much a hero before. You're... the most dependable guy I've ever met."

"I wasn't always like that," Sephiroth said quickly. He glanced out towards the front of the shop. They always sat like this -- the counter between them. He'd only seen the back rooms and apartment above a couple of times, while fixing things.

Tori sighed.

"Mom, I'm going to go see Lexei's kitties."

They both looked over to see Sindi standing there, hands on the edge of the counter. Sephiroth had her pegged for eleven or twelve. Not quite to the difficult age. Though Tori barely looked old enough to have a child that old.

He rarely asked that sort of information from anyone, mostly because he didn't want to have to volunteer anything in return.

"Be back by lunch," Tori told her, giving her a little wave.

Sindi nodded and scampered out the front door.

"I wish there were more kids her age," Tori commented. "The summer folk have a few, but they don't always come into town and I don't like Sindi too far along the shore on her own. Not when..."

Sephiroth nodded. Sea Worms and all. He could appreciate that.

"I don't suppose you could order a proper weapon for me," Sephiroth said after a bit of silence. While Mrs. Eronsa had given him that sword and the materia, it wasn't really his style at all. "I... might need something somewhat particular, so I can go into Mideel if I have to, but..."

"I can order anything," Tori interrupted, frowning at him for even suggesting otherwise. "Might take a couple days and might cost more a bit extra, but whatever you want, I can get."

She hopped off her stool and knelt down, fussing around for a pair of catalogs that she heaved up onto the counter with a pair of matching thumps.

"Whatever you want, I can get," she reiterated. And then she pushed the catalogs over to him and waited.

Sephiroth couldn't help an almost wicked little smile as he started to flip through the first one. His options were wide open and while he did want something familiar, he didn't want to be too obvious. Already, a man with his build and coloring wielding any long thin sword would be suspicious.

He thought of something like one of Cloud's weapons and thought it might be worth a try. There was a good selection. He'd known other men who'd had them. Zack...

Well, that was decided.

A minute later, he pointed to a picture in the first catalog.

"That," he said. "And I'll need materia, too."

A week passed, then another. The summer folk were beginning to head home and Sephiroth found himself making good money helping them close up their places. He'd be able to pay for the sword and materia, at least, when it arrived.

Soon the town would be back to its usual tiny population, which was fine with Sephiroth. While no one had so much as suggested he might be anyone aside from Fin, the unlucky friend-of-the-family, he knew his luck might not hold out for ever. Not when eventually he would have to leave the place and do whatever he supposed he was supposed to be doing.

After all, Aerith had to be watching from somewhere and laughing at how little he'd accomplished. But he didn't really know how to... do good. Not in a broad sense, at least.

Well, he thought there were a lot of things he knew how to do that were good, because they had been at the time but they weren't really, in hindsight.

He had spent a lot of time thinking about the past. He'd also spent a lot of time not thinking about it. Too much and he would have driven himself crazy again, he was sure. And that was the last thing that needed to happen.

What had happened then - had happened then. He was going forward, though, and that was what was important. Even if so far, going forward had been really unexciting and the best thing he'd done was kill a Sea Worm and then fix the dock it had destroyed. The boats had been a loss, however, and he had been given a book on basic boat-building to read and hopefully master. Alexei's garage did have all the tools, so it wasn't an impossibility. Luckily, they had been just simple rowboats.

The last card on the job board for the day was for a delivery out to Marsia's place. He'd finally gotten to meet Marsia, and liked her immensely. She seemed to really enjoy the life she'd carved for herself, and she had endless stories about chocobos and racing and, well, Sephiroth had to admit to being rather amused by most of them.

He took the package from Tori and was back a couple of hours later, pulling up to the General Store on his motorcycle and parking it beside a second motorcycle. Sephiroth blinked and looked it over - while there were other bikes in town, none were anywhere as nice as this one. This one belonged to a serious rider, and it was fairly new, as compared to the decades-old clunker he possessed.

Perhaps it was a delivery, perhaps a traveler. Sephiroth wasn't sure, but he knew he needed to check in with Tori and give her payment for Marsia's goods.

He tucked his sunglasses up on his head as he entered the shop -- the wood inside was dark from the years and no matter what sorts of lights Tori seemed to try, even on the brightest day, the shop seemed to have a certain gloom to it. While Sephiroth had once argued that it was part of the charm, Tori nonetheless threatened to whitewash everything and put white tile over the ancient plank flooring.

"Fin!" Tori cried as he walked in. "Good timing! I was hoping you'd get back while..."

Tori kept on talking, but Sephiroth wasn't paying attention to her. Instead, sitting at the counter with a wrapped package the exact size of the sword he'd ordered, was Cloud. Sephiroth wished he'd left his sunglasses on, but it was too late. Cloud was sizing him up as well, and his expression changed so quickly that Sephiroth almost wanted to laugh.

The years had been kind to Cloud, Sephiroth thought as he continued to look Cloud over. Not much in the way of height, under that hair, but a bit more muscle and a certain hardness that Cloud had lacked as a cadet. Sephiroth understood - he'd lacked that as well. Once he'd cracked his third decade, then he'd finally put on the sharp mass he'd wanted.

"My order?" Sephiroth managed, remembering that he was at least trying to have a facade.

"That's what I just said," Tori said with a frown. "Do you two... know each other?"

"I'm not sure," Sephiroth said before Cloud could say anything. "We're about the same age..."

He looked cleanly at Cloud, who seemed too stunned to say much of anything. "Were you in the military?"

Cloud didn't say anything, but nodded.

"We might have been stationed together at some point. You look so familiar," Sephiroth continued. Hopefully Cloud would play along. Hopefully...

"You... too..." Cloud's voice cracked, which made Sephiroth shiver. "I was hired to deliver..." He gestured at the sword on the counter.

"You have a nice motorcycle," Sephiroth said quickly. He wanted to laugh at how badly this was going. Of course, this wasn't how he wanted to find Cloud again. "Where did you come from?"

"Mideel," Cloud said quickly.

"You're not getting home before dark," Tori interjected. "You should stay in town or with Fin -- it's going to rain, too."

"Fin?" Cloud questioned.

"Fin," Sephiroth echoed, gesturing at himself and then managing a little chuckle. "Don't feel bad. While I know I've seen you, I can't remember your name either."

"Cloud," Cloud said. "Ah..."

Tori shook her head and held out a hand for the envelope from Marsia that Sephiroth was still clutching. He handed it off to her and moved to take care of it.

"Mom..." Sindi's voice echoed from somewhere in the back of the store.

"I'll be back," Tori said with a wince, vanishing before Sephiroth could bid her to stay.

"Fin?" Cloud questioned.

Sephiroth nodded.

"Fin," Sephiroth confirmed. "I don't know how familiar you are with the town, but I've been staying out in Ol' Willie's cottage on the water."

"I wondered... when I was hired to deliver the sword..." There was a detached hardness to Cloud's voice. Almost as if he couldn't quite tell if Sephiroth thought himself entirely 'Fin' or not.

"I think I'll be able to handle it," Sephiroth noted. "You... still keep in practice?"

Cloud nodded. "Just in case... of..."

You. Sephiroth knew that last word. Cloud didn't have to say it.

"I'll have to leave it here," Sephiroth said as he reached to unwrap the sword. "I've been making payments, but the last bit is still at home. Tori will probably force it on me anyway, but she's always been good for that."

"How long have you lived here?" Cloud asked, stepping a bit closer and watching Sephiroth carefully.

"Since Spring," Sephiroth replied.

"Before that?"

"Not really anywhere," Sephiroth replied almost flippantly. Let Cloud make what he wanted to out of that. He had so many things he could say. So many. But he didn't. Not when...

The sword was perfect - neither too thin nor thick and bulky. Four materia slots in linked twos. Hilt was beautiful. Workmanship divine. Sephiroth didn't dare touch the blade - he could tell it was sharp.

"Not..."

Sephiroth gave Cloud the smallest of smiles and decided that really, he needed to keep playing the game.

"Haven't you ever just sort of wandered aimlessly? Once ShinRa was gone..." He sighed and re-wrapped the sword.

"I can offer you something to eat, at least, and a lovely view of the sunset from my porch," Sephiroth said. "I live just outside of town. On your bike, maybe five minutes..."

Cloud looked unsure. Really unsure. Completely unsure as to whether he was being led to his doom or not.

"We'll have to figure out when we served together," Sephiroth continued. "I feel like it's right there in the back of my mind and I just can't quite shake it to the front."

"Yeah..." Cloud gave him a strange little smile. "Fin..."

Tori had yet to reappear, so Sephiroth scribbled her a quick note and guided Cloud out of the store.

Cloud paused when he saw the motorcycle parked beside his.

"Yours?" he questioned.

"A classic," Sephiroth noted, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah..."

"It was free," Sephiroth added. "And it runs. And it'll take me another couple years of fixing gutters and putting holes in Sea Worms to afford anything better. I wouldn't mind taking yours for a spin, though."

"Maybe," Cloud said as he carefully slid onto his machine.

"Follow me," Sephiroth said as he climbed onto his own. "I've got the road clear, but there are a couple of spots where it's a little hard to follow anyway."

Cloud nodded.

And then, between their engines, it was too noisy to properly communicate.

Speeding along with Cloud at his side was strange. Cloud kept looking at him like he was going to do something odd -- sprout wings, perhaps, and cast a plethora of magic on him. He wasn't even going to mention that casting something more complicated than a basic spell would knock him out for an afternoon.

He hoped the cottage wasn't a total mess. While he was far from a slob, he didn't do dishes every day and he knew there were books around that really needed to be shelved. He was ready to start letting go of the less-desirable of Ol' Willie's collection and he'd started putting them in a box. And he knew that was right in the middle of the floor.

The bathroom probably needed to be swept. At least, with his shorter hair, the drains weren't completely clogged. There were some benefits to his haircut, after all. He was spending far less time and money on maintenance. Though if Cloud asked, it was the haircut he'd always had and he needed Tori to trim it up again.

There was enough room for Cloud to wordlessly park his motorcycle in the shed beside Sephiroth's. The sky was beginning to darken, which was a bit of a surprise. Normally Sephiroth could tell in the morning if it was going to rain but it hadn't felt damp at all.

But as he looked out onto the water, it was taking on the same hue as the sky.

"The water is more interesting that the house," Sephiroth noted as he closed the shed door. "But it doesn't look we're going to get an option.

"It's okay," Cloud said. "Maybe later?"

"Yeah," Sephiroth said as he crossed to the porch and up. The door wasn't locked. It never was. And he let Cloud see that.

Cloud was wearing all black - riding gear, Sephiroth assumed. An interesting contrast to his normal jeans and t-shirt, this time with a soft drink mascot. He wondered if Cloud would even have realized if he had left his sunglasses on. Not that he thought he could hide his voice. He really couldn't do a thing about that.

"I have a bit of a strange question for you, Fin," Cloud said as he made his way inside. "It's... important, though."

"Mmm?" Sephiroth wondered how badly he was going to have to lie.

"Well, I knew a guy who had... younger brothers, I guess. I don't really know how to describe it, but..."

Sephiroth blinked a couple of times before it clicked. The numbered ones. 'Clones', Hojo had called them even though they weren't the traditional copies one thought of with the word. Cloud thought himself with that group and some of them had more resemblance and...

Cloud thought they were both...

"Doesn't sound familiar," Sephiroth said carefully. "Well... maybe it does but I don't... I don't have an answer for you."

"That's okay, Fin," Cloud replied. He wandered through the kitchen, looking at everything. Sephiroth hoped that he wouldn't have to explain that most of the knickknacks were gifts or things that had belonged to Ol' Willie. "This is a pretty nice place."

"You're welcome to the shower at any point," Sephiroth noted. "I can find you something to sleep in later. And the bed is all yours. I sleep on the sofa half the time anyway -- I keep falling asleep while reading."

"Oh?"

"If the town has anything, it's books," Sephiroth noted. "And Tori is good at getting in interesting stuff as well."

"I've brought things out here before," Cloud replied. "I've met her. She..."

"If you're going to suggest that I marry her, the suggestion has been made and is under consideration," Sephiroth said, trying very hard not to chuckle. He looked away, pretending to be checking the contents of his cupboards for dinner. He wanted to see Cloud's face, but he didn't think he'd be able to resist laughing at the expression he was sure that Cloud was making.

"That's not..."

"Were you considering it?" Sephiroth asked, turning.

"No," Cloud replied. "She's not really... She's nice, but no. I don't think I could."

"That's about how I feel." Sephiroth sat at one of the kitchen chairs. "Especially since she's a military widow. But we're the only two young people in town, so in the end, it wouldn't be the worst solution."

"Fin?"

"Mmm?"

"Nothing..."

It started to rain. Sephiroth started to pull things out of the cupboards and fridge. Cloud was his first guest, after all -- he could make as best a feast as he could with his limited cooking skills. He was thankful, if nothing else, that he actually had food. Sometimes he simply made instant noodles for dinner or went without.

"When did you learn to cook?" Cloud asked when Sephiroth was midway through preparing their dinner.

"Taught myself," Sephiroth replied. That was the truth, definitely, though he had been given a cookbook along the way.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not yet, unless you want to start on dishes." Sephiroth wished he'd done the few that were already in the sink - it would be hard to pile food prep dishes on top of them and while normally he didn't mind leaving things all over for a night, he wanted the place to not be a total disaster for Cloud.

"Mmm..." Cloud went back to watching him, blue eyes tracing every movement. Sephiroth thought he should be unnerved by it, but he wasn't. Cloud hadn't really changed in some ways - still quiet and curious and wanting to learn. It was better that Cloud didn't know the truth for a multitude of reasons... But...

He could remember the feel of Cloud as a cadet, watching him. It was the same.

He gave Cloud a little smile.

"This isn't hard," he said. "I could teach you."

"I don't ever have to cook for myself," Cloud replied. "I live with... Ah..."

Oh. That was interesting and somewhat disappointing. Cloud had someone. Not that... Sephiroth turned back to the pot he'd been stirring and the pan he'd been sautéing. Cloud had someone. And here he'd apparently been entertaining the idea of having Cloud again. As if he deserved that. As if there was any way he could when he couldn't even tell Cloud who he was. It wouldn't be right at all, no matter how badly he wanted to reach and rest a more than friendly hand on Cloud's shoulder.

He exhaled. He'd have to be careful.

"I live with a friend who has a small bar and restaurant," Cloud said finally. "She's a good cook, but yours smells really good too."

Well, Cloud had certainly not gotten less awkward. That was almost a relief.

"In Mideel?" Sephiroth questioned. Of all the places for Tifa to end up, he hadn't expected there.

"For now, yes," Cloud replied. "She's moved around a bit. I guess... Well, there were... things. Back when...."

"Meteorfall?" Sephiroth suggested. That was the name they'd given to it. No proper explanation had ever been offered, but he didn't much care. He knew the truth and he wasn't in a rush to correct anyone.

"Yeah," Cloud replied. "Just sort of put a wanderlust in the lot of us, I guess. It's hard to have a normal life after... After everything."

Sephiroth wanted to say he understood. He didn't know how long he'd be able to stay where he was despite it being a good place. Another year or so, maybe? He did need to go elsewhere, see other things. But somehow, he thought he'd still call Ol' Willie's cottage home anyway.

All of his thoughts were bordering on a little strange.

"I think I sort of understand," Sephiroth said after a long moment of silence. "Not entirely, but... well, look at me. I can't really say anything about anyone."

He smiled, hoping he was doing a good impression of the grinning mascot on his shirt.

Cloud relaxed a bit in his chair.

"I can set the table, too," he said. He glanced out the window. "Does it always rain this much here?"

~*~

Cloud left first thing in the morning, which didn't bother Sephiroth at all. The entire evening, Cloud never uttered his real name, and Sephiroth contented himself with telling stories about the town and then a few old war stories that he thought were vague enough to not really mean anything at all.

Maybe if Cloud ever came back, he'd tell the truth. But... Cloud seemed so...

He didn't want to hurt Cloud.

It was complicated.

Sephiroth walked into town to pay for his sword and materia, checked the job board and then decided to take the day off and fish. He'd made twice as much food the night before, so his supplies were low. And fish every night really wasn't as bad as it could be. Not something he wanted to do forever, but for the time being, it wasn't bad.

If anyone really needed him, he wasn't difficult to find.

He put the sword up on a shelf near the kitchen door and then went out to sweep off the deck. The storm had blown down a lot of little leaves and twigs and while the deck wasn't in good shape to begin with, he wasn't sure he wanted to refinish and paint it just yet. Maybe in the spring, if he was still around.

In any sense of the word.

"What am I supposed to be doing?" He looked out to the water.

For the briefest of seconds, he thought he felt the ground shake.

But then again, he was hungry. It could have been his stomach.

A minute later, it wasn't so much a shaking as a rolling. The waves rushed high across the beach and the entire cottage shook. Sephiroth grabbed for the deck rail and just held on, watching.

He was sure he'd felt earthquakes before, but nothing like this. He knew the area was prone to them - he knew the Lifestream wasn't far below the surface, which made sense as to why he'd been spit out there.

He was okay, though. As soon as it ended, he glanced into the cottage. A few books had fallen, and he was a little afraid to open his cupboards, but for the most part, everything looked okay.

But the town...

He raced for his bike, pausing to run back and grab his new sword. Then he was to the shed and back out, motorcycle thrumming between his legs. He wasn't sure he'd ever pushed the machine to its limits before, but he was doing it now. All he had in his mind was panic --

Everyone was out of their homes when he arrived. No one looked particularly stunned, though there was water up through the streets.

"Is everyone okay?" Sephiroth asked Darius as he turned off the motorcycle.

"That wasn't anything much," Darius replied with a chuckle. "Does that a few times a year. Few waves, but we're good."

Sephiroth blinked. "Really? But..."

"That's right -- you must have got here right after the last one." He chuckled. "But don't worry so much. It'll take something far bigger to wipe us off the map."

"But..."

"And it's a good time to be social," Darius added. "We'll wait for the aftershocks to pass and then go back about our days."

Almost on cue, the ground shook ever so slightly.

Though...

"Wonder where that one was at," Alexei wandered over to the pair. All three of his cats were following him. "Mideel, you think?"

"Mideel?" Sephiroth questioned. Cloud had just headed back there. "I..."

He looked at the motorcycle. It had plenty of fuel and he knew it could make the trip.

"Mmm?" Alexei looked at him with a strange expression.

"Cloud, the courier, just left for there," Sephiroth explained. "If the ground opened up at all..."

"Tori said he was someone you knew," Darius said. "Don't you worry about us. You go see if he's okay."

Sephiroth nodded. And then without looking back, got on the bike and went.

Cloud would have about three hours of head-start on him, he figured. That was possibly too far to be of any help even if something had happened, but he had to try. And if he did get to Mideel, he'd lay low overnight until he could return. He just had to make sure Cloud was okay. If not, well, he'd never forgive himself. And Aerith and Zack wouldn't be pleased, either.

The road seemed to be in good shape, aside from some crumbling sections that seemed to be in poor repair more due to age than the quake. It was a good sign, and after two hours of pushing the machine almost to the point of overheating, Sephiroth considered slowing his pace a bit. He hadn't seen even as much as a trace of the Lifestream fountaining out of the ground. Maybe he'd worried for nothing.

But he kept going, slowly seeing a few tiny ruptures and then an impressive mini-fountain that rivaled the one in town that he tended to try to ignore. It was in a shed, anyway, with a stone pool around it so that it wouldn't really spread. Sephiroth assumed someone had checked on that.

Then he saw it -- a big rupture stretching partway across the road. And Cloud's motorcycle, on its side. And Cloud, sprawled, unmoving on the ground. Sephiroth nearly lost his own machine as he skidded to a stop. He honestly wasn't concerned with it as he jumped off and rushed over to Cloud.

"Cloud!" He didn't grab right away, instead checking for a pulse, which he found. While Cloud looked a little scraped up, nothing seemed to be at a strange angle. Besides, Cloud was a pretty durable guy and Sephiroth didn't think falling off a motorcycle would do that much harm. His head seemed to be in one piece, at least.

"Cloud..." He gave Cloud a tiny shake, and then actually thinking, he ran back to his bike and the Heal materia he'd slotted into his sword. With that, he was able to cast a tiny spell onto Cloud to hopefully bring him around. Again, Sephiroth found himself feeling gut-punched, but it was worth it when Cloud slowly opened his eyes and tried to sit up. Failing at first, he succeeded on the second try, looking squarely at Sephiroth and then at the greenblue of the Lifestream spilling up around them.

"Am I dead?" he asked. "Why are you here, Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth didn't correct him.

"I had to come make sure you were okay," Sephiroth replied. "There was an earthquake. But you're not dead."

"Then you're not dead..." Cloud trailed off and then shook his head, apparently finally piecing everything together. "Oh... Fin..."

Sephiroth chuckled. "You gave me a bit of a scare. But you're okay and so is the town..."

"Mideel!" Cloud cried, scrambling to his feet and then staggering a step. "Oh, my bike..."

"It looks okay," Sephiroth noted. "Probably just triggered the killswitch when you went off."

Cloud nodded. "Will you come with me? I know you'll be helpful if... anything happened."

Unsure for a couple of seconds, Sephiroth nodded. He could at least go and check on things.

"I'll follow you," he said. "But... I don't really want to hang around for too long."

"You have your own town to worry about, huh?"

He didn't take the time to tell Cloud that yes, that was half of it. But only half.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.


	4. Sephiroth ponders Fin ponders Sephiroth

Thankfully, upon arrival, Mideel looked to be pretty much in one piece. At least as far as Sephiroth could figure. He knew it had been pretty much destroyed years before, and that it was pretty much his fault, but it had already been rebuilt, so he hadn't really thought much about heading over there. He also wasn't really ready for a bigger town than the one he was in. He figured he'd been dropped where he'd been dropped for a reason, after all. He trusted that Aerith had a plan. Or... at least an idea for a plan. If Zack was involved, well, maybe it wasn't the best idea for a plan, but... He trusted Aerith, oddly enough. She'd... given him his sanity back when he certainly hadn't deserved it. 

But she'd done what she could for Cloud, too.

Aside from the condition of the town, Sephiroth was far too aware of one other thing - his motorcycle was running on virtually nothing. While it could apparently go back and forth around town and to Marsia's and the summer folk homes for a month without thinking about fuel, the trip to Mideel - at full blast - had done it in. 

Possibly, he had enough money to get himself at least part of the way back, but that might mean not eating. And it didn't help much if he still had a day or so of walking. 

He supposed he could sell one of his hard-earned materia.

Easing his bike to a stop alongside Cloud's when they got to a small place that looked more like a cafe than a bar, Sephiroth decided not to worry about it just yet. He might be able to find a few odd jobs and...

He saw Tifa a moment later, cleaning a broken pane of glass out of one of the front windows. Apparently there had been some damage...

"Welcome back, Cloud," Tifa called when she saw them. And then she simply stared. "You brought someone back with you?"

Either she really hadn't recognized him or she was just being cautious.

"This is Fin," Cloud explained as he headed over to her. "Was there much damage?"

"Here? Just the window and a few bottles and dishes. Smells pretty awful inside, but it's not bad. A few other houses are worse, I think, but nothing too major," she explained. 

"It's nice to meet you," Sephiroth offered, reaching to take the hand broom and dustpan from her. "Allow me to finish up here. I do all the odd jobs around my town and I've fixed my share of window panes."

Tifa nodded slowly and handed over the tools. "Thanks... Ah, my name is Tifa. Tifa Lockhart."

"My pleasure," Sephiroth replied, aiming for a soft smile. "Cloud stayed in town overnight since it was storming, and I followed him back because of the earthquake." 

He wasn't going to say a thing about actually chasing after Cloud. Nope. Not at all. And he was going to give Cloud a chance to quickly tell Tifa whatever the current theory was on his origins.

Tifa had already cleaned up all of the glass that had fallen free of the pane, and carefully, Sephiroth pulled out the remaining shards, depositing them in a pile on the dustpan. He'd rather have had some work gloves for the task, but of course all of his tools - well, Alexei's tools - were in Alexei's garage hours away. 

Though he had no reason to rush, either. Tifa led Cloud inside under the presumption of checking for damage and they vanished into a back room fairly quickly. But things were quiet, and he went about picking glass out of the window frame for a few more minutes before finishing. From there he'd need to carefully pop off some of the detail and trim of the window, but the construction was basic and he didn't think it would be difficult at all. Finding a new piece of glass might be the hard part if there were a lot of windows waiting to be fixed. 

He let himself into the cafe and found a sturdy garbage can to dump the glass in. Already, it had bits of bottles and everything else in it, though there still looked to be a rainbow of tiny glass shards behind the bar. And definitely a smell. 

Well, he thought as he surveyed, there would be nothing more disarming than re-emerging to the potential enemy sweeping up and then mopping. Of course, he had no idea where-- 

A broom was easy to locate, and he had a dustpan. A mop would be more difficult and likely have to wait, but he was patient. Before starting on the sweeping, he slipped back out to his motorcycle and brought his sword in. No sense leaving it out as temptation. Anyone after the bike would be sorely disappointed. 

He set the weapon on a table near the door and slipped behind the bar to start sweeping. 

Halfway through, Tifa and Cloud reappeared. And stared at him. Tifa glanced from him to the window and then back to the broom he was holding. 

"I hope you don't mind -- I figured I'd make myself useful. A little vinegar in the water when I mop should take care of most of the alcohol smell, too," Sephiroth said. Marsia had taught him about the vinegar. Tori had reinforced it. Hopefully, it would work on multiple levels. 

"Th-thank you," Tifa managed. "I didn't expect..."

"If we can get a pane of glass, I can fix the window too," Sephiroth continued. "I should probably wait until morning to head back, and before I do, I'm going to need to find fuel for my motorcycle."

"I'll cover it," Cloud said quickly. "And you can stay with me. I... told Tifa that you came out to check on me."

"I owe you one, Fin," Tifa said carefully, still looking him over. "More than one, I think."

Sephiroth shook his head. "This is really about all I can do. I don't have a lot of practical training, but I've gotten pretty good at fixing and cleaning things."

"He also took out a Sea Worm that had come up onto shore," Cloud noted. Sephiroth froze. He hadn't mentioned that - only that there'd been some intrustive wildlife. But Tori probably had, when Cloud had first brought the sword in.

"Well, I do have a military background," Sephiroth said. "Though I've been away from that for awhile. Mostly I drifted and when I had a chance to metaphorically 'start over', I took it. It's been going fairly well so far."

Mostly, he wasn't lying. It felt kinda good. 

"I'll make something to eat," Tifa said after a long, almost awkward moment. "There's a bucket and mop in the back, and I do have vinegar... You don't have to do it, but..." 

She let it linger that it would be really, really nice if he would. And then she ducked into the back.

"What did you tell her about me?" Sephiroth questioned as Cloud looped around the bar and sat on one of the stools. There were a handful of tables in the place, and maybe four bar stools. But then again, it wasn't a large town. 

"Hmm?"

"I think she thought I was going to bite," Sephiroth said. He laughed. "Unless I've got it totally wrong."

Cloud shook his head quickly. "Nothing like that, Fin. You... remind me a bit of someone we used to know, and I mentioned that, but..."

"Sephiroth?" Sephiroth asked. He wasn't sure why he was pushing now, of all times. But it had just come out of his mouth and hopefully it wouldn't seem...

"Huh?" 

"That's what you called me when you first came to," Sephiroth replied. "If I look like your friend, at least I won't feel so weird about all the looks you keep giving me."

"I... Did I?" Cloud asked, shaking his head. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"It's a long story," Cloud replied. "You... do remember Sephiroth, right?"

Sephiroth nodded carefully. "The war hero, right? I... Hmm... I don't really know much about him after that, though. He..."

Well, there was a bit of time missing. More than once. 

"Yeah. I wanted to be like him. Didn't you?" Cloud looked up, but more at the bottles remaining behind the bar than anything else. 

"I guess so," Sephiroth replied. "But that wasn't really why I joined. For me... I guess it just happened." 

How much of his life had he really had a choice in? What if he'd been more suited to be a concert pianist? He kept sweeping and wondered if he still had time to learn. 

"You look like him," Cloud said softly. "Not entirely, but... enough."

"Should I apologize for that?" Sephiroth questioned. He knelt to push broken glass into the dustpan using the hand broom. 

"No."

Sephiroth exhaled and then stood, dumping the dustpan's contents into the garbage. Another good sweep and then he could mop, which would be good, as the floor was starting to get really sticky. 

Maybe mopping would be a better priority. 

"Good," he said, giving Cloud a little smile. "I’m going to go find a mop and bucket and I'll be back."

A couple of minutes later, when he returned with his quarry, Cloud hadn't moved. 

Tifa had helpfully left a bottle of white vinegar by the mop bucket, and Sephiroth had dumped most of it in. If nothing else, the smell would be replaced...

No sooner had he thrown down a good layer of water than Tifa appeared with three plates piled high with sandwiches and vegetables and even a cold pasta salad. 

"I just pulled everything out and sort of got carried away," she said, shaking her head. Sephiroth remembered her with longer hair, but now it was cut short - shorter than Cloud's, which was long and threatening a ponytail, but nowhere near as short as his own. 

"It looks amazing," Sephiroth replied. And it wasn't fish. That alone was something to be grateful for. "Thank you."

Tifa shook her head. "Thank you." She gestured at the area behind the bar. "You're far more efficient at that than I've ever been and I've been doing it for half my life."

"Let me at least pull up the water and then I'll eat," Sephiroth said, reaching with the mop to clean up the mess he'd just made. The smell was already waning, he was pleased to note, though he also knew he'd have to clean the bottoms of his boots thoroughly or he'd keep smelling like booze. 

Tifa nodded and made her way over to one of the tables, setting everything out and then ducking back to grab silverware, napkins, and drinks. 

Thankfully, she just poured plain soda for all three of them. Sephiroth hadn't touched a drop of alcohol yet, despite some very attractive offers, and didn't intend to. Not when he still didn't know how fragile his sanity might be.

Cloud slid off his stool and gave Sephiroth one long, lingering look that wasn't supposed to be caught, Sephiroth realized. But there was a mirror behind the bar and he'd moved just right to catch a spot where bottles had fallen from and left a gap. 

A forlorn blue. Watching. Wanting.

Sephiroth had never really thought anything would be easy. Nothing was ever really easy, unless it was manual labor. But anything with Cloud... especially with Tifa near... 

Sephiroth knew he could avoid temptation. It would be safer. Besides, lunch was waiting and then he had mopping to do. And the rest of Mideel to possibly check on. And fuel to buy.

And a night to spend with Cloud. Hopefully Cloud just meant in a completely separate room, likely on a sofa, with a dull book to lure him into an uninterrupted and dead sleep.

There was a faint aftershock that nonetheless made the bottles behind the bar rattle. Sephiroth grabbed at one as it fell, catching it in mid-air.

Both Cloud and Tifa were staring at him. 

"Got it," Sephiroth replied cheerfully, setting it back on the shelf and then giving the entire rest a little push back to where they should be. Not bad, really. Hopefully. 

And then he circled around to eat.

~*~

Later, as Sephiroth was showering in Cloud's modest home set back behind the cafe, he couldn't help but wonder if he really was 'Fin' now. He'd lived as Fin constantly, except for the handful of moments where he'd needed to be Sephiroth. And really, were his actions then not things that Fin might do?

When did he become someone else?

Was he supposed to?

Was it cheating, if he became Fin?

Was Fin really different from himself?

Was Fin real?

Was he?

The water washed over him and he scrubbed without really meaning to. Cloud and Tifa accepted him as Fin, and as the day passed, they relaxed around him. He and Tifa showed each other tricks with cleaning. Cloud helped him fix not only Tifa's window but also those of several other town residents. They'd worked, side by side. 

There wasn't going to be an answer, he realized. Not right away, at least. Maybe not ever. 

Tifa had promised to find him a clean shirt while he showered, which was more than he really needed. Sure, he'd gotten a little dirty and smelly, but he was just going to get dirty and smelly again. The shower was transient and more a way to have a bit of time to himself than anything else. 

He washed the shampoo out of his hair, not bothering with conditioner, and turned off the water. There was a towel for him, and he quickly dried his hair and then his body, pausing at one point to look at himself in the partly steamed-over bathroom mirror.

Yes, he looked like himself. But he looked like 'Fin', too, if Fin could be real. 

And then he wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom just as Cloud was hanging a clean t-shirt on the back of a chair by the bathroom door. His pants were draped over it, too. His boots and socks were on the floor. He hadn't really been bothering with underwear. 

Cloud's eyes did not meet his. Instead, they dipped lower, along scar-free skin tanned by the southern islands sun. Down to where the towel was wrapped.

"Thanks again," Sephiroth said, not able to hold in a little chuckle. Yes, he was curious about touching Cloud and apparently Cloud was curious about him in return. But he knew it wasn't the time for curiosity. Not yet. He knew he didn't get to indulge any personal pleasure yet. It was okay. He...

"You're definitely not Sephiroth," Cloud said softly before turning. "He had scars. You..."

"You... want me to be him?" Sephiroth asked. "I don't understand."

"I don't either," Cloud admitted. "I guess... I still have a lot of things to think about."

"As do I," Sephiroth replied. He pulled the shirt on and then the socks. Cloud was at least looking away, so he dropped the towel and pulled on his jeans a moment later. 

He hung the towel on the chair and started to put his boots on. Maybe Cloud wasn't interested in him now that he'd confirmed the last of his suspicions. Sephiroth didn't think he wanted to know. 

"You're staying tonight, right?" Cloud asked. "I mean... Tifa..."

"I am," Sephiroth confirmed. "Thought I might wander around town more first, though. It's not quite dark."

There was a pause. 

"Well, might be easier if you showed me around..."

"Your voice is even the same." Cloud still hadn't looked back. Instead, he was staring at a shelf of little knickknacks and photographs in what served as the main room of his home. It was possibly even smaller than Ol' Willie's cottage, but Sephiroth didn't think Cloud was the sort of guy to really need much, either. Tifa was nearby. And he had his sword. 

Sephiroth wanted to be honest. He... wanted to figure out who he really was first, though. If he was becoming a person of his own creation, or if 'Fin' was just a nickname. 

"Cloud..."

"There's not much to see," Cloud said as he headed towards the door, saving Sephiroth the need to figure out what to say. "Most everything interesting was destroyed, though there are still some hot springs operating. And there are sometimes wild chocobos close to town. Monsters, too."

"Should we be armed?" Sephiroth questioned. 

"Only if we're looking for a fight." Cloud finally glanced back at him. Sephiroth had brought his sword along back to Cloud's place when Tifa had announced that she was going to try opening for the evening. After that sort of shaking, she reckoned, everyone would need a drink.

Their eyes met. They both reached for their swords. 

Apparently Cloud walked around town armed often enough for most of the townsfolk to not bat an eye. Though Sephiroth knew he was getting a few looks. 

Some parts of town, those fueled by tourists, were mostly rebuilt. Other sections were not in such good shape, and Sephiroth vowed to himself to volunteer his services in the future. He knew he could do something...

Cloud also seemed to be something of a local hero. Children called out to him. Maybe that was what was keeping him and Tifa from moving on. During lunch, Tifa had talked about their time in Kalm and then Gongaga. 

And then Mideel. 

They walked farther, through the town's outskirts and little clusters of tourist cabins, out along trees and bare, scrubbly patches... The sun was finally down, but the stars were bright enough to see by and they really hadn't gone far enough to lose the lights of town entirely from over their shoulders. 

"Fin?"

"Mmn?" 

"Got a weird question for you."

There was a crashing from the tall grass nearby, and Cloud's question was put on hold as a pack of angry green creatures rushed forth and quickly surrounded them. 

"Well..." Sephiroth drew his sword and smiled. "I guess now is as good a time as any to test my new sword."

"Don't try to do too much," Cloud ordered. "If you get overwhelmed..."

"Against these?"

"Yeah..."

It was on. Sephiroth rushed one of the beasts, well-aware he was leaving himself open from the sides. Before he could strike, though, he spun, catching a flanking one and then firing off a low-level fire spell that singed and stunned another of the monsters but didn't kill it. He sucked in his breath. Not as bad as before, but he'd been practicing at least one spell a day with the materia he'd been gifted previously. 

"Left!" Cloud cried. Sephiroth turned and cut down a lunging monster and then finished off the burnt one with a second spell. That left three - Cloud had taken out two and was fighting another. When that one fell, they looked at each other for the briefest of seconds before each rushed a remaining monster. 

Perhaps the entire battle had taken fifteen seconds. Sephiroth was short of breath, but Cloud didn't look much better. They looked at each other again and laughed. It felt good. 

"You're really good with that," Cloud said, shaking his head. "Not Sephiroth-good, but good."

"I see that I have a lifetime of comparisons in front of me," Sephiroth replied, smiling. "And you're... really good too. I'd like to see you against something a little more threatening, though."

"Like you?" Cloud suggested, stepping back and raising his buster sword. 

Sephiroth frowned. "I'm... dreadfully out of practice and I've had this sword all of two days," he reminded Cloud.

"You want me to go easy on you?" Cloud asked. He was smiling. It was a rare expression, Sephiroth knew, and he wasn't going to waste it.

He nodded. 

Taking a stance, he waited. This wasn't life or death - it was friendly. But whoever made the first move was going to decide much of the fight. 

Finally, after a few more seconds went by, he moved. He struck high, blocked, then low. Cloud didn't need to put much power behind the buster to make it move with a distinct weight, but Sephiroth thought he knew how to counter it. He was sure he'd fought Cloud wielding it before, but that part of his memories was a jumbled mess of just about everything. 

And he had to remember that he didn't have the reach that Masamune had given him. He'd sacrificed a good two feet of sword and Cloud still had something as big as his entire body. Cloud also had speed. And stamina. 

Sephiroth knew he was outclassed, and while he felt a little humbled, he mostly knew he'd just have to work harder. He moved. He improvised. And he didn't let up. 

Finally, when he took a couple of steps back and realized he was really, really out of breath, he held up a hand. 

"Good?"

"Good," Cloud said. "Wow."

"Good, because I'm about to fall on my ass," Sephiroth replied, opting instead to flop under his own power. 

Cloud sat down beside him a moment later. 

"Fin?"

Sephiroth hadn't quite noticed how close Cloud had actually gotten to him. 

"You had a question for me, didn't you?"

"Uh--"

Cloud was quiet for a long moment, looking down at the ground. 

"I'll ask some other time. It's not really important," he finally said. 

"Whenever," Sephiroth replied, reaching to rest a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "You know where I'll be."

"Yeah. That's true."

"We should head back in a minute," Sephiroth continued. "Tifa's probably getting worried about us. If she's not busy making money hand over fist."

They sat a bit longer, not talking about anything in particular, before heading back to town. Sephiroth invited himself to sleep on Cloud's sofa, despite Cloud trying to offer him the bed. 

He knew better. 

He was glad that he was tired enough to sleep.


	5. A good cup of coffee gets all the blame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A good cup of coffee gets all the blame.

Morning was a bit of a surprise. Sephiroth didn't quite remember at first where he was, and had to look around once and then think about it to properly figure it out. But then he remembered the earthquake, and Mideel, and Cloud. 

The sun was just rising, which made it about the normal time he woke. He helped himself to the bathroom and then headed out to wander and stretch. His muscles were sore - but Cloud had given him far more of a workout than he'd had since... Well, since he'd been dumped into an all new body and woke up naked on the beach. 

He hadn't even thought about his body. How it wasn't really his. Or... perhaps was a replica but was missing all the things that would have made it properly his - scars, marks, memories. 

Maybe it had been on purpose. There had definitely been marks that he wouldn't have wanted to face every day. A fresh start had required a new body. Yes... It made sense. 

It didn't help the confusion settling in that he didn't really know who he was. 

He turned a corner and stared at the sunrise. 

He had been Sephiroth, hadn't he? 

Yes, he had. It was all still there. He still was Sephiroth. 

Cloud should probably know that. 

He kept walking, wondering just how to tell Cloud. Maybe the time wasn't quite right. Maybe it never would be. But that sort of ruined the intent of telling him. 

For all he knew, he wouldn't even see Cloud again. So it might not matter. 

"Fin!"

But it wasn't Cloud - it was Tifa who had found him. 

"Morning!" she called as she ran up to him. "Cloud was afraid you'd left."

Sephiroth glanced up towards the sun. He'd been walking for longer than he'd intended. He'd probably looped around enough that the locals had to be wondering what he was up to. 

He'd been thinking. That took time and footsteps. 

"Just woke up before him," Sephiroth replied. "Thought I'd walk for a bit - stretch - Cloud really gave me a workout last night."

"So I heard," Tifa replied. "But only the barest of details. Mostly that you're pretty good and it's been awhile since Cloud could spar with anyone who could even remotely keep up with him."

"What about you?" Sephiroth asked. He was well aware that Tifa was a powerful fighter as well.

She raised a fist. "It just doesn't quite work in practice," she noted. "I feel how he does. But I'm sure I'll find someone. We both keep in shape, just in case."

"In case of what?"

Tifa frowned. "I don't know anymore. I mean... we didn't know at first if everything was really over. Just sort of kept waiting. How do you know when a war is over if there's no official announcement? We barely knew who we were fighting half the time. It's... Sometimes I don't think it's over."

"Mmm?" Sephiroth glanced over at her. They were walking, albeit slowly, and he couldn't quite meet her gaze. 

"I'm not sure what Cloud has told you," Tifa said softly. "But... there were a lot of battles. We fought for a long time. And... It just doesn't always feel like that's over. Like the threat is really gone."

Sephiroth nodded. If he was the threat, well, he was walking beside her. But he wasn't - at least he hoped he wasn't the threat. 

"If you ever need me..."

Tifa shook her head. "No. As much as I'd like to accept, well, it's not your fight."

"I'm starting to feel like it is," Sephiroth replied. He sighed and kicked at a pebble. "The more I talk to you and Cloud, the more he compares me to..."

He paused. It was infinitely strange to talk about himself in third person. 

"Sephiroth. Whatever Sephiroth was to him. I get the feeling that it was something more than..."

"I don't know all the details," Tifa said quickly. "But there was something, yes. I hope that's not weird to you. You really do look like him, just... younger."

Sephiroth chuckled. Yes, that was about the only difference. 

"I only met him briefly," Tifa continued. "But even your personalities are similar. I can't help but wonder if that isn't confusing to Cloud. If it wasn't impossible, I'd almost believe you to be him too. I can see where Cloud got his first theories from. But... you're you, Fin."

"I'm content with that." 

They were back to Tifa's place, and Cloud was sitting on the porch with two cups of coffee. 

"Morning," Sephiroth said to him. Cloud gestured to the coffee.

"I hope I got it right."

"However you made it is fine," Sephiroth replied, taking the mug. It smelled perfect, and the color was right. Just a tiny bit of cream was preferable, but black was good too. Pinch of sugar, unless it had been a rough night. Then it had to be sugar with just a pinch of coffee. 

But it had been many years since a night like that.

Cloud had nailed it, though. How had...?

Sephiroth froze, but tried not to show it. When Cloud had stayed, he'd been making coffee while Cloud was packing to go. He hadn't even thought about it.

"It's perfect," Sephiroth said. 

"I know," Cloud replied softly. "How...? I didn't even realize until I was thinking about what you might like in it... And then remembered you'd made it just like..."

"I'd say it's a long story, but it really isn't," Sephiroth admitted. He was caught and he knew it. At least now he wouldn't have to worry about how to tell Cloud -- he already had.

Tifa looked between them a couple times before frowning. 

"Are you going to clue me in?" she questioned. 

"He's Sephiroth," Cloud said firmly.

Sephiroth winced, then nodded. "Zack and Aerith say 'hi'."

Tifa's jaw dropped ever so slightly. 

"But we just went over all the ways that was impossible," she said. "You're Fin. Fin..."

"There are only a finite amount of explanations for things," Sephiroth said. "And a finite amount of time allowed to keep my secret."

"But why...?" Cloud was just staring, now. "Seph..."

"The short version is that eventually, I became nothing but anger and hate," Sephiroth said. "I stopped being myself, stopped being an actual entity aside from pure malice. And then... it became an entity separate from me. Like I fell out of a cocoon of darkness."

"And Aerith..."

Sephiroth shook his head. "Zack, actually. Laughed at me, offered me a hand, told me Aerith was off hugging my hate to death or something. It... That part is pretty fuzzy. I was missing a lot of my body and my mind, but together we all wove it back together. And I really understood what had happened and it... It wasn't a good feeling."

"What? She sent you back?" Tifa asked. "Why doesn't she just...?"

"She's doing more in the Lifestream than you could ever imagine," Sephiroth said. "I... That I'm not sure I should say too much about. But basically, after a lot of talking and a good scolding for killing her, even if it worked out in the end, she asked if I wanted to come try to fix some things."

Yes, now was the time to admit that so far he'd managed to accomplish all sorts of amazing things like fixing roofs and delivering booze to a chocobo farm and killing a Sea Worm.

"I didn't know I was going to get a refurbished body," he said after a moment. "Or that I'd ever run into anyone I knew who knew me well enough to figure it out."

"Why'd you lie?" Cloud asked. 

Sephiroth sipped some of his coffee. 

"Why would I tell the truth? You spent the better part of a year trying to kill me," Sephiroth said. "Both of you. It's been far better for everyone if I'm 'Fin', who just happens to have the same hair color and eye color and general build - and voice... Like I said, some of the details were a surprise to me. I guess Aerith had a limited amount of details to work with."

"You're back..."

"You mopped my floor," Tifa interrupted. She frowned and then started laughing, almost uncontrollably. Sephiroth thought he understood. It was pretty ridiculous. He'd mopped her floor. Five years after literally trying to kill each other, yes, pleasantries and mopping.

"It's a start?" Sephiroth offered. He honestly didn't think he'd hold it against either of them if they killed him on the spot. Or at least singed him. Partly for lying, partly for being Sephiroth. 

"Should I still call you 'Fin'?" Tifa finally asked, gasping for breath. "Because..."

"'Fin' is preferable, yes," Sephiroth noted. "But... whatever is comfortable. You don't even ever have to see me again. I'll just go back to Ol' Willie's cabin and fish and do odd jobs in the village."

Cloud shook his head. "No. That's not... you can't..."

Sephiroth set down his coffee mug and held his arms out at his sides. Wide open. Whatever Cloud wanted to do, it was okay. 

Slowly, Cloud stood. 

And stared. 

Sephiroth waited. 

The waiting was the worst part. Cloud didn't have his sword with him, but that didn't mean he didn't have materia or any other weapons. He could probably throw a mean punch, though nowhere near as mean as one of Tifa's. But she didn't really seem upset. More... amused. Accepting. Maybe she'd just really liked his explanation. He didn't know and it wasn't the time to ask. Maybe she'd be angry later. Maybe it just hadn't hit. He really didn't know and he wasn't going to push the issue ever if he didn't have to.

Cloud still hadn't moved. 

Sephiroth wondered if it was his t-shirt. He really had to get some better ones. 

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Cloud closed the gap and carefully put his hands on Sephiroth's chest, palms flat, before leaning, silent. After a couple of seconds, Sephiroth drew his arms in, awkwardly hugging Cloud and exhaling. He understood. 

Yes, he was real. Yes, there was a real heart in a real ribcage under real skin, beating. He was real. 

And he knew that was a scary thing, even if he was mostly sane and relatively depowered. Which Cloud hopefully remembered. 

"Missed you," Cloud mumbled. 

Sephiroth reached up with his left hand and ruffled Cloud's spikes. 

"I..."

In a way, he hadn't missed Cloud so much as thought about him often and hated everything he'd done to Cloud. He'd not really managed to hate himself much, just what he'd done. Hating himself wouldn't have been terribly productive and he at least needed some sort of outlet. So hating his actions... There would never be words to apologize. There would never be anything he could do to undo the years of agony he'd caused. 

He couldn't hate himself, though, or he'd never get anything done. He wouldn't stay sane. He'd tear himself apart.

"I miss Zack, too. And Aerith."

"They're doing pretty well, for being dead," Sephiroth told him. They were. He assumed Aerith had some sort of sway over Zack's general lingering form in the Lifestream, since he'd seen a lot of other people fade to tendrils fairly quickly. But Zack held strong, being his usual silly and friendly self. Aerith did everything. She was probably holding off any other quakes, releasing the pressure slowly elsewhere, somewhere uninhabited. 

"She's really okay..." Tifa smiled. Sephiroth winced at her over the top of Cloud's head. It's not that he didn't want Cloud pressed against him, he just didn't know what to do or say. 

"Yeah..."

Finally, thankfully, Cloud stepped back. He was blushing, but Sephiroth couldn't fault him. He just still didn't know what to say or do. It wasn't like they'd had any sort of official relationship and really, he'd systematically destroyed Cloud's life. He didn't think it would be good to get involved again without really, really thinking about it. 

In silence, he finished his coffee. 

"I should get going," he said. Tifa nodded. Cloud was silent. That was the worst. But there were just no words. There was nothing. He had wanted to stay Fin and not deal with it. He wanted to be Fin so he didn't have to deal with it. But actions had consequences and it was time...

At least he knew who he was and who he wanted to be. Kind of.

"Cloud?"

"Mmm?" The look on Cloud's face was wholly unreadable. 

"Come visit some time?"

Cloud nodded. Tifa sighed. 

Sephiroth knew it was time to leave. 

~*~

Tori was waiting for him when he got back into town. Or, not so much waiting as gave him a very strange look when he stepped into the General Store to see if there were any emergency job cards. 

"Everything okay?" she questioned. Sephiroth glanced around, but the place was empty aside from Sindi, who was drawing down at the other end of the counter. Sindi seemed engrossed in what she was doing and she'd never much seemed to care what Sephiroth was up to, unless it involves something for her.

"Yeah," he replied. "Everything okay here?"

She nodded. 

"You know, there is phone service between here and Mideel," she noted. Sephiroth was expecting a lecture on not checking in and letting her know that he and Cloud had arrived safely. "I mean, I know you don't have a phone for whatever reason..."

"Line is down," Sephiroth interjected. He'd seen no reason to shimmy up the poles to fix it yet, though if there were more Sea Worms, he thought it might finally be worth doing. 

"But I do," Tori continued. "And someone named Tifa phoned and wanted to let you know that Cloud was packing a bag and would be on his way. Do I even want to know?"

Sephiroth couldn't help a chuckle. "It's complicated," he said. "But... you'll have to forgive me for not knowing quite how to explain. It's not a bad thing. We just... clicked, I suppose."

Tori eyed him for a long moment before shaking her head. "Fine with me. Might keep Ol' Lexei from wanting us to get hitched. No offense, of course."

"None taken," Sephiroth replied. "I did consider it, though."

"So did I."

They looked at each other and both shook their heads and laughed. 

Down at the end of the counter, Sindi looked up at them and frowned. And then she went back to drawing. 

~*~

While Ol' Willie's cottage was the perfect size for one person, it was a little crowded with two. And really, Sephiroth didn't spend much time there. Even on his days off, he was down on the beach or doing something outside. He wasn't sure he'd have a lot of time to spend with Cloud and hoped that would be okay. 

Cloud had dumped his bag in the living room and sort of vaguely gestured at the sofa. That was all well and good, but Sephiroth liked the sofa. He liked to read. And Cloud, while being relatively intelligent, was not a reader. He knew that. So he was going to lose his reading spot, unless he managed to get Cloud into his bed. Which, if he was also in, meant he'd...

He wasn't going to think that far ahead. For all he knew, his body didn't even work that way. Thinking, as he watched Cloud from the kitchen, he couldn't remember a single instance of his body reacting to anyone. Nothing in the middle of the night or morning. No urges while showering. No urges in general. 

It hadn't really crossed his mind, even though he'd definitely thought about Cloud. But he hadn't really thought about Cloud in that way. 

He wondered if Zack was laughing at him somewhere. 

Wasn't really worth pondering. 

His body, he supposed, was a bridge to cross at some point in the future. For now, he just needed to figure out what to say to Cloud, how to act around him, and no, acting natural was not in the cards. He just didn't think there was a natural. 

"Seph..."

He also didn't think he'd ever get Cloud back to calling him 'Fin', no matter how preferable it was.

"Mmm?" 

"Can I borrow a blanket?" Cloud asked. "Later, I mean."

"Of course. Luckily, blankets are one of the few things this place has in excess. Originally, I had plenty, and then I ended up with more. Blankets are apparently a favorite gift to give," Sephiroth noted. He had, as far as he knew, about twenty. Four had come with the place, and the other approximately-sixteen had come from various residents and even the summer folk. Tori had even given him one, along with a couple of packs of socks. 

One had been quickly relegated to beach duty, but most were piled in the small closet set into the wall between the bathroom and bedroom. It held all the spare linens, which were not as numerous as the blankets, and a few other things. Really, towels were good gifts, too. He could have used a couple more of those. 

Cloud blinked and Sephiroth made his way to the closet and opened it. "Your choice."

He wasn't sure what had happened to the one that he'd used the other evening. Maybe he'd tucked it somewhere, folded... Put it on the bed? It was around but not on the sofa, apparently. He still needed to do something about his cupboards, too, he realized. Hopefully the aftershocks had rattled everything back into place. 

"That's..."

"A lot of blankets, yes," Sephiroth replied. He took Cloud's hesitation as an invitation to do the deciding and handed him a knit one with flowers. It was definitely a warm one, and the nights were starting to get chilly. He knew he'd eventually have to invest in a space heater, because while Ol' Willie had owned an actual home somewhere to return to, the cottage was now a year-round space. Sephiroth didn't think it would get too bad, but he knew he'd have to remember to ask Tori or Darius at some point. 

"I still can't..."

Sephiroth wanted to ask if 'finish a sentence' was the right answer. But he felt the same way as Cloud. Maybe worse. He could talk about blankets and Sindi and fishing and why there was a pile of romance novels beside the sofa, but other than that, he just didn't know what to say to Cloud. Not about anything that mattered, anyway.

"I can't really think about it for too long," Sephiroth admitted. "I can't undo any of it, but I can move forward and help people here and anywhere else I can get myself in the future. Aerith didn't give me a new body and second chance for me to drive myself back into darkness by dwelling."

"I know," Cloud replied. "I understand. And you'd think that I'd hate you more, but so much of that is just gone. It's there, but it's not. I feel like I want to hate you, but I'm out of hate. Instead, I'm... I think I'm glad you're here. And I feel guilty about that."

"I missed you," Sephiroth said. "Somewhere even in madness."

"I missed you, too."

They stared at each other, quiet, for a long moment. 

"What do you do when something impossible happens?" Cloud asked. 

"Go with it," Sephiroth replied. It was probably a fairly bad idea to kiss Cloud. Probably meant that getting Cloud a blanket for the sofa was going to be a wasted effort. Probably meant he was going to get distracted and possibly make a mess of things. 

He did it anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took forever to get edited and posted. ^^;; April was a challenging month. As always, thank you for comments and kudos and warm fuzzies in general.


	6. Turns taken talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns taken talking.

Sephiroth woke to unfamiliar warmth beside him. Much like waking up in Mideel, it took him a moment to figure out where he was and what was going on. But then he remembered - Cloud. Cloud had figured it out, because he'd made mistakes and also because Cloud was not stupid. 

No, Cloud was not stupid at all. Cloud had grown up to be a good, honorable man. He made his living as a courier, on his own terms. He'd talked a lot, the night before, about everything. He'd done all the talking so that Sephiroth hadn't had to, which had been perfect. Cloud had obviously understood. So he'd done his part.

After that kiss -- well, after the two that followed it -- they'd just talked. Cloud had been of the same opinion that some things shouldn't be rushed even if technically they wouldn't be rushing at all. Sephiroth hadn't mentioned that possibly, nothing much more intense could happen. He was waiting on his body. 

But they'd decided that sleeping in the same bed was more than okay. Sleeping - and just that.

Carefully, Sephiroth untangled himself from Cloud and crawled out of bed. Sunlight was peeking in around the edges of the heavy, dark curtains he'd put up, so it was some time of morning, at least. 

He started about his morning routine. No need for Cloud to be up yet. Sephiroth read for a few minutes in between pushups on the deck and making fried fish with rice for breakfast. 

It was going to be a clear day. 

Finally, just when he was about to put Cloud's portion of the meal away, Cloud crawled out of the bedroom and just stared. 

"Never going to be used to you doing things like making breakfast," Cloud admitted. 

"We'd starve otherwise," Sephiroth noted. It was the truth. Someone had to cook and Tifa had noted at one point that Cloud wasn't really allowed to make meals. 

"What are you doing today?" Cloud questioned. He was glancing around at the stacks of apparent boredom - books, fishing pole, laundry to be hand-washed in a tub...

"I'll go in to town, check the job board, and if there are jobs, do them," Sephiroth said. He started running water for dishes. "If there aren't jobs or if I get done early, I'll hang out in Alexei's garage, tinker with whatever is there, possibly sort women's clothing, trade with anyone interested, pet Alexei's cats and talk to Alexei for a bit. He's probably very curious about what's going on."

"Sounds..." Cloud frowned. 

"Not what you'd expect me to be doing?"

"Especially the cats."

"They're white and have odd-colored eyes," Sephiroth noted. "Never much liked cats, but these three are alright."

Cloud shook his head and quietly poked at his food. 

Sephiroth started dishes. 

This was really why he almost didn't want to even try this... 

"I guess maybe I can try fishing?" Cloud said after a long moment. 

"You could see Marsia's chocobo farm," Sephiroth suggested. "I can draw you a map."

There was a pause. 

"Okay. And by the way, this is actually really good. Something you put on it..."

"Secret," Sephiroth replied. He couldn't help a little smile. A lot of trial and error, mostly, more than a secret. But he wasn't going to tell. Not any of it. 

He sent Cloud on ahead with a map, taking a few extra moments to look through the cupboards and debate what food he might actually need on hand. 

Surprisingly, Sindi was minding the shop.

"Morning, Fin!" she called when he walked in. "There's lotsa jobs for you today."

"Well let's take a look at them," Sephiroth said with a smile as he headed over to the board. While he wouldn't consider four cards to be 'lotsa', one of them stuck out as being a particularly complicated job and one that would indeed take most of the day. Aside from opening a stubborn jar of pickled asparagus, helping Darius change a tire on his truck, and keeping an eye out for a lost set of keys, there was a card in Tori's handwriting - 'Not feeling well today, please help Sindi mind the store'.

"Your mother is sick?" Sephiroth asked, pulling down all the cards and walking over to the counter.

Sindi nodded. "She said she'll be okay tomorrow, but really needs to rest today. I know how to do pretty much everything, don't worry."

"Well, then I'll go take care of the other three jobs and then I'll be back," Sephiroth said. 

"Thanks. I mean, I'm really okay here, but..."

Sephiroth nodded. "I'll just help clean up."

"Sounds good," Sindi said, waving as Sephiroth headed for the door. 

He wasn't sure what to do about the keys, aside from just watch as he walked.

The pickled asparagus jar was a quick task - the jar lid was indeed quite stuck and even he struggled for a moment before it popped open. As a reward, he was given half of a loaf of bread, which was quickly returned to the motorcycle and wrapped carefully into one of the cargo bins. 

Darius's tire didn't take long, either. Really, Darius just needed someone to do the lifting while he supervised. 

After that, he checked back in on Sindi. She was coloring a drawing in her sketchbook, but she also offered him three receipts that looked accurate. 

"I'm going to run down to Alexei's place," Sephiroth told her. The lady who'd lost the keys had stopped at the garage the other day and traded a few things. 

"Gotcha," Sindi said. "Then you'll help clean up?"

"Exactly. And I need to get a couple of things, too."

Sindi grinned and pulled out the receipt pad. Sephiroth was glad that he had a limited amount of money on him, else he knew he'd fall victim to her salesmanship and smile.

Alexei was out on the porch, two cats on him and the third at his feet. 

"Where have you been?" Alexei questioned when he saw Sephiroth. He shooed the cats off his lap and got to his feet. "I've heard all sorts of things. You went running off after the earthquake?"

"I was worried about a friend in Mideel," Sephiroth explained. "He's okay. And... actually, he's staying with me for a bit."

"Two people in Ol' Willie's place?" Alexei questioned. "You'll be tripping over each other."

"Pretty much," Sephiroth admitted. "But don't go dying and leaving your place to me just yet."

Alexei laughed. "Not just so you can have company, don't worry. Besides, you'd have to take in these three troublemakers..."

He went to gesture, but all three cats were gone. 

There was a little jingle, however, from under the porch.

Alexei shook his head. "Whatever they found, it's noisy. Got it a couple of days ago and they'll ignore it for hours and then be entranced... Cats..."

Sephiroth opened his mouth to say something, but an entirely different thought hit him. 

Jingle. 

He dug his keys out of his pocket and shook them. It was almost the same noise. 

"I'm supposed to be looking for a set of keys lost right around here," he explained, chuckling. "I guess that takes care of that..."

He stuffed his keys back into his pocket and knelt down to peer under the porch. Three pairs of odd-eyes peered back at him. Between them was a set of keys glittering against the dirt with a well-chewed stuffed bear hanging off one ring. 

"Sorry, but I can't let you keep these," Sephiroth said as he reached and grabbed. He got a set of claws in the back of his hand and hissed, but there wasn't actually any blood when he drew his hand back. And that task was accomplished. Hopefully Della wasn't too fond of her keyring charm.

Alexei chuckled. "So now they're cat burglars?"

"I don't think they really meant to take them," Sephiroth said as he got to his feet. He still needed to poke around in the garage for a moment. Maybe. Or he could just drop off the keys and go back to Sindi. "Hey... Tori's not feeling well? Is this a normal thing?"

Alexei nodded. "She just wears herself out, that's all. She's got that store open every day, after all. If Sindi's minding the place, Tori is just tired and needs a day. If it's flat-out closed, then you should worry."

"Thanks... I'll stop back by when I can, okay?" Sephiroth gave Alexei a little wave and started back towards the general store. He left Della's keys on her porch along with the job card.

Sindi was still sitting at the counter, though she'd gained a bowl of macaroni and cheese. 

She looked up when Sephiroth came in. 

"All done?" she asked him. 

"Yup. Even found Della's keys."

"I have a bowl for you. I made one for Mom, too," Sindi announced, smiling. She slipped off her stool and ran back into the back of the store before Sephiroth could say anything.

Sindi made a darned good mac-n-cheese. 

"I have a list of things to do," Sindi said once Sephiroth had sat and started to eat. "It's pretty simple - sweep, make sure everything is in the right spot on the shelves, make sure the receipts are all together... I just haven't started any of it yet..."

"No sense in doing it all too early," Sephiroth noted, smiling. He completely understood her logic. 

"Exactly," Sindi said. "But maybe after lunch we can do a few things."

Somehow, Sephiroth ended up doing pretty much everything. But he really didn't mind. He tucked the job card in with the receipts at the end of the day and felt good about closing the place up. It unnerved him a bit that Tori hadn't even appeared, but... He also trusted her to let someone know if she was truly ill.

~*~

Cloud was waiting for him when he got back to the cottage. He'd apparently been given food, and Sephiroth had a bag of food, which meant there was officially more food in the cottage than at any point previous. 

"That was... I'm not sure what that was," Cloud admitted. "When I said I'd raced at the Gold Saucer, her eyes went wide and that was it for hours."

Sephiroth smiled. "Thought she might like you."

"She wants to hire me part time to run the birds around," Cloud said. "I don't know... I mean..."

"You have time to think about it," Sephiroth reminded him. He had his own groceries and gifts to put away, and what Cloud had brought back was scattered across the counter. 

"I know."

"I mostly helped mind the general store," Sephiroth said. "No money in that, but Sindi gave me a bag of rice. Probably worth more than what I did, but I'm not going to complain."

"I've heard you're a saint who can do no wrong, by the way," Cloud said. He... chuckled. Sephiroth exhaled slowly. "Not quite what I was expecting to hear. But between what Tori said and what Marsia said..."

"I did manage to get into a fight with one of Alexei's odd-eyed white cats," Sephiroth noted, holding up his hand. The scratches were barely visible, but there. "I doubt saints get beat up by cats."

"You need something to do here other than books."

"There's laundry."

"Seph..."

"'Fin'?"

"Don't worry, I didn't slip," Cloud said with a little headshake. "I think it's only when we're talking. When you're right in front of me."

Sephiroth reached to start on dinner. It was almost dark-- the day had definitely gotten away from him. 

It was his night to talk. About everything. Once the words started flowing, it was hard to hold them back. 

Who he was, who he'd been, how he was very different physically than he had been, and who he was hopefully going to be... 

How he'd been figuring that out.

Cloud didn't judge. Cloud just listened. 

This time, Cloud kissed him.

~*~

Tori was up and about when Sephiroth wandered into town the next day. He felt good. Clear, he supposed. Talking to Cloud had helped. Just talking had helped... 

Tori, however, looked bad. Tired, mostly, and like she hadn't really done anything with her hair. 

"Morning," she managed. "Thanks for helping Sindi yesterday. It sounds like she had you do a lot more than I'd intended."

"A born supervisor," Sephiroth noted. He smiled. "And I didn't mind. I was worried about you, though." 

"Just a bad day," Tori said, shaking her head. "Yesterday was the anniversary of his death and it sort of snuck up on me. I was tired anyway and needed a day to myself."

That made a perfect bit of sense. This was supposed to be his fishing day, and he was just checking for calamities. But there was nothing on the board, thankfully. 

"I can help today," Sephiroth said quickly. "If you need me."

"No, it's okay. Really... You have..."

"Cloud?" Sephiroth offered. "He and I aren't attached at the hip."

"But I'm thinking you're attached." Tori gave him a very knowing gaze. 

Sephiroth nodded. "It's not easy to explain," he said. "We did know each other, and we've clicked..."

Tori waved her hand. "I'm not collecting gossip and I'm not judging. Don't worry."

He wasn't worried. He just knew it had to look strange. It was strange. 

They were quiet for a moment. 

"Fishing day?" Tori questioned.

"Yeah. I'd offer you part, but I know you get enough here. If I had nets and a boat..."

"I'm sure it'll happen," Tori said. "I mean, if you stick around."

That was it. She was more concerned he'd leave. Not that he'd ever really thought he'd stay forever. But...

"We'll see," Sephiroth said. "But not today. Today I just need some bait."

~*~

Cloud was not patient enough to fish. Not at all. Instead, Sephiroth had sent him to pick up interesting rocks and shells and anything else and they could make a proper outside firepit to cook over. He'd been meaning to do it, but it was also a lot of work for just himself. 

He watched Cloud from the chair he'd dragged down to the shore, down to a section where there was more of a drop off than a beach and fish tended to gather. Cloud had shed a layer of clothing, and was getting a bit of color on his skin, rendering him a sort of golden color. Sephiroth was a bit jealous - he stayed fairly pale no matter what he did. At least compared to most of the rest of the town. 

By midday, he'd caught enough fish to make a meal. While he had fish in the freezer for other cooking, fresh fish would be best over a fire. 

Cloud had a fire going in the sand about a hundred feet out from the cottage. 

"This is nice," Cloud said when Sephiroth sat down with his bucket of fish. 

"I'll decide once we see if this works or not," Sephiroth replied. He was talking about the fish, but he realized a moment later, that perhaps it was a more general statement as well. 

He didn't clarify, opting instead to get back up and head to the porch to get the tools he'd need to clean the fish and get them properly roasting. 

Cloud just watched, occasionally poking at the flames. 

Sephiroth wasn't sure if things were getting better or worse. 

~*~

"Seph?"

"Mmm?"

Cloud's hair smelled like the ocean.

"Do you not want me here?"

"I want you here," Sephiroth said. "It's complicated, though. Tori's afraid I'm going to leave the town for you. Two people don't really fit in this cottage. And I'm not sure I'm even allowed to have selfish desires anymore."

"Oh..."

"We'll figure it out," Sephiroth continued. "You... know I wouldn't have gone after you if..."

Cloud nodded against him. 

"I know that's not the answer you wanted to hear."

"I shouldn't have just up and invited myself to stay," Cloud replied. "I just... got ahead of myself. I spent so long chasing you and finally caught up."

Sephiroth kissed him. And kissed him again. It felt nice, and right, and somewhere in there, Cloud managed a little moan, but there was nothing else. There was the temptation to reach and see how he was affecting Cloud, but that would just be an invitation to trouble. Trouble -- any additional trouble - was not what he needed. 

It was the one thing he hadn't quite been honest about yet. He'd said his body wasn't working the same. He hadn't detailed. He wanted, but...

"We've got time now," Sephiroth said. "I've never really... tried to do this sort of thing properly, so..."

"Me neither." Cloud pulled away, stretching and settling at the other end of the sofa. "We're going to do this properly?"

Sephiroth nodded. "I think so. At least properly enough that I don't have the entire town asking me improper questions."

Cloud managed a soft laugh. "I know Tifa is worried too..." He glanced away. "Is it wrong to not really want to leave her? I miss her... We've been together for so long even if it's just been as..."

"We're answering our own questions," Sephiroth told him. He smiled. "We'll figure it out. We have time now, and Mideel isn't really that far from here."

Cloud nodded. And smiled. 

~*~

Of course, the second Sea Worm arrived the day after Cloud left. However, with a sword he was at least reasonably more familiar with, Sephiroth was able to rush on in and cast a couple of spells without feeling completely exhausted. It wasn't anywhere near as large of a beast as the last one, but it was just as fierce. It had come up on a different part of the town beach, away from the docks, at least. 

But...

Right as he was unleashing the first lightning spell, he realized that he had to be careful with his aim -- only a stone's throw from the beast was Sindi, clutching her sketchbook to her chest. Sephiroth had seen her down at the beach drawing before--

She screamed. 

Sephiroth got himself between her and the worm. 

"Run away!" he called to her. But Sindi was frozen with fear. 

The Sea Worm was at least more interested in him by that point, though, and he threw out another spell and then lunged in with his sword, aiming for the head. 

Sephiroth heard Tori's voice somewhere in there, but he didn't look away from his task. Hopefully Tori was tending to Sindi. Hopefully...

The Sea Worm flailed and managed to throw him, but he landed on his feet. It was dying, definitely, but still plenty angry at him. 

He stood, glancing over finally. Yes, Tori had gotten to Sindi and was pulling her back. 

Sephiroth smiled. He could do this. He could definitely do this. 

He rushed the monster, blade flashing in the sun. It didn't take more than a few more seconds before the beast finally fell.

And then Sephiroth sank to his knees in the surf. Better than the last time, definitely, but he was still exhausted. It was unfair. At least Cloud hadn't seen him - that would have been a bit embarrassing, even if he had managed a victory. He was stronger but still felt weak.

Though if all of his power had been Jenova, then... he was glad not to have it. 

~*~

The summer folk had mostly cleared out, which surprised Sephiroth. He'd nearly forgotten how quickly they'd arrived and for some reason hadn't quite expected their departure to be so startling as well. The season - and soon the year - was drawing to an end, he realized, and he'd really not even noticed. He'd been in town for the better part of the year. He'd done a lot, except he hadn't. Well... yes, he supposed... 

He had to be passing, at least. His body was holding out. Had that even been a condition? Were there conditions? Sephiroth wished he could remember more things about his last conversation with Aerith. 

But he couldn't. 

Sephiroth reminded himself to have Tori order him a few more t-shirts as he packed a bag for a few nights in Mideel. He could handle strange advertising mascots, just like he could handle Sea Worms and odd-eyed cats. 

He and Cloud still had a lot to talk about before they got anywhere near the parts that didn't involve talking. 

Sephiroth zipped his bag and glanced one last time around the cabin. He'd stop through town on his way and check on Tori and Sindi. Maybe he'd see if she could order in what he'd need to finally fix the phone line to the cabin. 

That seemed like the next thing he needed to do, after all. 

Or, at least, it was a start.

After that, the possibilities were infinite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! While Sephiroth and Cloud continue to have adventures close to home, I'm going to work on finishing some older works-in-progress. 
> 
> A quick vote on my journal awarded 'Exact Curriculum', a story about Vincent ending up in post-game FFVIII-verse, as the next to work on, though if you're familiar with anything of mine and want to prod me in any certain direction, let me know.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [All That Awaits](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1082379) by [pointysticks (Lindra)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lindra/pseuds/pointysticks)




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